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 represented 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  sig-
		  nal  SIGKILL. The rstate field can define multiple run levels for a process by selecting more than one run level in any combina-
		  tion 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. Further-
		  more, 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
		  follows:

		  respawn      If the process does not exist, then start the process; do not wait for its termination (continue scanning the init-
			       tab 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 program 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 hardware 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 sig-
			       nal(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 keyword 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 com-
		  mand'. 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 5.11							    9 Dec 2004								inittab(4)