INIT(8) 						    BSD System Manager's Manual 						   INIT(8)

NAME

     init -- process control initialization

SYNOPSIS

     init
     init [0 | 1 | 6 | c | q]

DESCRIPTION

     The init utility is the last stage of the boot process.  It normally runs the automatic reboot sequence as described in rc(8), and if this
     succeeds, begins multi-user operation.  If the reboot scripts fail, init commences single-user operation by giving the super-user a shell on
     the console.  The init utility may be passed parameters from the boot program to prevent the system from going multi-user and to instead exe-
     cute a single-user shell without starting the normal daemons.  The system is then quiescent for maintenance work and may later be made to go
     to multi-user by exiting the single-user shell (with ^D).	This causes init to run the /etc/rc start up command file in fastboot mode (skip-
     ping disk checks).

     If the console entry in the ttys(5) file is marked ``insecure'', then init will require that the super-user password be entered before the
     system will start a single-user shell.  The password check is skipped if the console is marked as ``secure''.

     If the system security level (see security(7)) is initially nonzero, then init leaves it unchanged.  Otherwise, init raises the level to 1
     before going multi-user for the first time.  Since the level cannot be reduced, it will be at least 1 for subsequent operation, even on
     return to single-user.  If a level higher than 1 is desired while running multi-user, it can be set before going multi-user, e.g., by the
     startup script rc(8), using sysctl(8) to set the kern.securelevel variable to the required security level.

     If init is run in a jail, the security level of the ``host system'' will not be affected.	Part of the information set up in the kernel to
     support a jail is a per-jail security level.  This allows running a higher security level inside of a jail than that of the host system.  See
     jail(8) for more information about jails.

     In multi-user operation, init maintains processes for the terminal ports found in the file ttys(5).  The init utility reads this file and
     executes the command found in the second field, unless the first field refers to a device in /dev which is not configured.  The first field
     is supplied as the final argument to the command.	This command is usually getty(8); getty opens and initializes the tty line and executes
     the login(1) program.  The login program, when a valid user logs in, executes a shell for that user.  When this shell dies, either because
     the user logged out or an abnormal termination occurred (a signal), the cycle is restarted by executing a new getty for the line.

     The init utility can also be used to keep arbitrary daemons running, automatically restarting them if they die.  In this case, the first
     field in the ttys(5) file must not reference the path to a configured device node and will be passed to the daemon as the final argument on
     its command line.	This is similar to the facility offered in the AT&T System V UNIX /etc/inittab.

     Line status (on, off, secure, getty, or window information) may be changed in the ttys(5) file without a reboot by sending the signal SIGHUP
     to init with the command ``kill -HUP 1''.	On receipt of this signal, init re-reads the ttys(5) file.  When a line is turned off in ttys(5),
     init will send a SIGHUP signal to the controlling process for the session associated with the line.  For any lines that were previously
     turned off in the ttys(5) file and are now on, init executes the command specified in the second field.  If the command or window field for a
     line is changed, the change takes effect at the end of the current login session (e.g., the next time init starts a process on the line).	If
     a line is commented out or deleted from ttys(5), init will not do anything at all to that line.

     The init utility will terminate multi-user operations and resume single-user mode if sent a terminate (TERM) signal, for example, ``kill
     -TERM 1''.  If there are processes outstanding that are deadlocked (because of hardware or software failure), init will not wait for them all
     to die (which might take forever), but will time out after 30 seconds and print a warning message.

     The init utility will cease creating new processes and allow the system to slowly die away, if it is sent a terminal stop (TSTP) signal, i.e.
     ``kill -TSTP 1''.	A later hangup will resume full multi-user operations, or a terminate will start a single-user shell.  This hook is used
     by reboot(8) and halt(8).

     The init utility will terminate all possible processes (again, it will not wait for deadlocked processes) and reboot the machine if sent the
     interrupt (INT) signal, i.e. ``kill -INT 1''.  This is useful for shutting the machine down cleanly from inside the kernel or from X when the
     machine appears to be hung.

     The init utility will do the same, except it will halt the machine if sent the user defined signal 1 (USR1), or will halt and turn the power
     off (if hardware permits) if sent the user defined signal 2 (USR2).

     When shutting down the machine, init will try to run the /etc/rc.shutdown script.	This script can be used to cleanly terminate specific pro-
     grams such as innd (the InterNetNews server).  If this script does not terminate within 120 seconds, init will terminate it.  The timeout can
     be configured via the sysctl(8) variable kern.init_shutdown_timeout.

     The role of init is so critical that if it dies, the system will reboot itself automatically.  If, at bootstrap time, the init process cannot
     be located, the system will panic with the message ``panic: init died (signal %d, exit %d)''.

     If run as a user process as shown in the second synopsis line, init will emulate AT&T System V UNIX behavior, i.e., super-user can specify
     the desired run-level on a command line, and init will signal the original (PID 1) init as follows:

     Run-level	  Signal     Action
     0		  SIGUSR2    Halt and turn the power off
     1		  SIGTERM    Go to single-user mode
     6		  SIGINT     Reboot the machine
     c		  SIGTSTP    Block further logins
     q		  SIGHUP     Rescan the ttys(5) file

FILES

     /dev/console	system console device
     /dev/tty*		terminal ports found in ttys(5)
     /etc/ttys		the terminal initialization information file
     /etc/rc		system startup commands
     /etc/rc.shutdown	system shutdown commands
     /var/log/init.log	log of rc(8) output if the system console device is not available

DIAGNOSTICS

     getty repeating too quickly on port %s, sleeping.	A process being started to service a line is exiting quickly each time it is started.
     This is often caused by a ringing or noisy terminal line.	Init will sleep for 30 seconds, then continue trying to start the process.

     some processes would not die; ps axl advised.  A process is hung and could not be killed when the system was shutting down.  This condition
     is usually caused by a process that is stuck in a device driver because of a persistent device error condition.

SEE ALSO

     kill(1), login(1), sh(1), ttys(5), security(7), getty(8), halt(8), jail(8), rc(8), reboot(8), shutdown(8), sysctl(8)

HISTORY

     An init utility appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

CAVEATS

     Systems without sysctl(8) behave as though they have security level -1.

     Setting the security level above 1 too early in the boot sequence can prevent fsck(8) from repairing inconsistent file systems.  The pre-
     ferred location to set the security level is at the end of /etc/rc after all multi-user startup actions are complete.

BSD
								  March 14, 2012							       BSD