inittab(4)							   File Formats 							inittab(4)

NAME

       inittab - script for init

DESCRIPTION

       The /etc/inittab file controls process dispatching by init. The processes most typically dispatched by init are daemons.

       It  is  no longer necessary to edit the /etc/inittab file directly. Administrators should use the Solaris Service Management Facility (SMF)
       to define services instead. Refer to smf(5) and the System Administration Guide: Basic Administration for more information on SMF.

       To modify parameters passed to ttymon(1M), use svccfg(1M) to modify the SMF repository. See ttymon(1M) for details  on  the  available  SMF
       properties.

       The inittab file is composed of entries that are position dependent and have the following format:

	      id:rstate:action:process

       Each entry is delimited by a newline; however, a backslash () preceding a newline indicates a continuation of the entry. Up to 512 charac-
       ters for each entry are permitted. Comments may be inserted in the process field using the convention  for  comments  described	in  sh(1).
       There are no limits (other than maximum entry size) imposed on the number of entries in the inittab file. The entry fields are:

       id

	   One	to four characters used to uniquely identify an entry. Do not use the characters "r" or "t" as the first or only character in this
	   field. These characters are reserved for the use of rlogin(1) and telnet(1).

       rstate

	   Define the run level in which this entry is to be processed. Run-levels effectively correspond to a configuration of processes  in  the
	   system.  That  is,  each  process spawned by init is assigned a run level(s) in which it is allowed to exist. The run levels are repre-
	   sented by a number ranging from 0 through 6. For example, if the system is in run level 1, only those entries having a 1 in the  rstate
	   field are processed.

	   When  init  is requested to change run levels, all processes that do not have an entry in the rstate field for the target run level are
	   sent the warning signal SIGTERM and allowed a 5-second grace period before being forcibly terminated by the kill signal  SIGKILL.   The
	   rstate  field can define multiple run levels for a process by selecting more than one run level in any combination from 0 through 6. If
	   no run level is specified, then the process is assumed to be valid at all run levels 0 through 6.

	   There are three other values, a, b and c, which can appear in the rstate field, even though they are not true run levels. Entries which
	   have these characters in the rstate field are processed only when an init or telinit process requests them to be run (regardless of the
	   current run level of the system). See init(1M). These differ from run levels in that init can never enter run level a, b or c.  Also, a
	   request for the execution of any of these processes does not change the current run level. Furthermore, a process started by an a, b or
	   c command is not killed when init changes levels. They are killed only if their line in inittab is marked  off  in  the  action  field,
	   their line is deleted entirely from inittab, or init goes into single-user state.

       action

	   Key	words  in this field tell init how to treat the process specified in the process field. The actions recognized by init are as fol-
	   lows:

	   respawn

	       If the process does not exist, then start the process; do not wait for its termination (continue scanning the  inittab  file),  and
	       when the process dies, restart the process. If the process currently exists, do nothing and continue scanning the inittab file.

	   wait

	       When  init  enters  the	run  level that matches the entry's rstate, start the process and wait for its termination. All subsequent
	       reads of the inittab file while init is in the same run level cause init to ignore this entry.

	   once

	       When init enters a run level that matches the entry's rstate, start the process, do not wait for its termination. When it dies,	do
	       not restart the process. If init enters a new run level and the process is still running from a previous run level change, the pro-
	       gram is not restarted.

	   boot

	       The entry is to be processed only at init's boot-time read of the inittab file. init is to start the process and not wait  for  its
	       termination;  when  it dies, it does not restart the process.  In order for this instruction to be meaningful, the rstate should be
	       the default or it must match init's run level at boot time. This action is useful for an initialization function following a  hard-
	       ware reboot of the system.

	   bootwait

	       The  entry is to be processed the first time init goes from single-user to multi-user state after the system is booted. init starts
	       the process, waits for its termination and, when it dies, does not restart the process.

	   powerfail

	       Execute the process associated with this entry only when init receives a power fail signal, SIGPWR (see signal(3C)).

	   powerwait

	       Execute the process associated with this entry only when init receives a power fail signal, SIGPWR, and wait  until  it	terminates
	       before continuing any processing of inittab.

	   off

	       If  the process associated with this entry is currently running, send the warning signal SIGTERM and wait 5 seconds before forcibly
	       terminating the process with the kill signal SIGKILL.  If the process is nonexistent, ignore the entry.

	   ondemand

	       This instruction is really a synonym for the respawn action.  It is functionally identical to respawn but is given a different key-
	       word  in order to divorce its association with run levels. This instruction is used only with the a, b or c values described in the
	       rstate field.

	   sysinit

	       Entries of this type are executed before init tries to access the console (that is,  before  the  Console  Login:  prompt).  It	is
	       expected  that  this entry will be used only to initialize devices that init might try to ask the run level question. These entries
	       are executed and init waits for their completion before continuing.

       process

	   Specify a command to be executed. The entire process field is prefixed with exec and passed to a forked sh as  sh  -c  'exec  command'.
	   For this reason, any legal sh syntax can appear in the process field.

SEE ALSO

       sh(1), who(1), init(1M), svcadm(1M), svc.startd(1M), ttymon(1M), exec(2), open(2), signal(3C), smf(5)

       System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

NOTES

       With the introduction of the service management facility, the system-provided /etc/inittab file is greatly reduced from previous releases.

       The  initdefault  entry	is not recognized in Solaris 10. See smf(5) for information on SMF milestones, and svcadm(1M), which describes the
       "svcadm milestone -d" command; this provides similar functionality to modifying the initdefault entry in previous versions of  the  Solaris
       OS.

SunOS 5.10							    9 Dec 2004								inittab(4)