linux man page for init

init(8) 						      System Manager's Manual							   init(8)

NAME
       init - Upstart process management daemon

SYNOPSIS
       init [OPTION]...

DESCRIPTION
       init  is the parent of all processes on the system, it is executed by the kernel and is responsible for starting all other processes; it is
       the parent of all processes whose natural parents have died and it is responsible for reaping those when they die.

       Processes managed by init are known as jobs and are defined by files in the /etc/init directory.  See init(5) for more details on configur-
       ing Upstart.

   Events
       init(8)	is an event-based init daemon.	This means that jobs will be automatically started and stopped by changes that occur to the system
       state, including as a result of jobs starting and stopping.

       This is different to dependency-based init daemons which start a specified set of goal jobs, and resolve the order in which they should	be
       started and other jobs required by iterating their dependencies.

       For  more information on starting and stopping jobs, as well as emitting events that will automatically start and stop jobs, see the manual
       page for the initctl(8) tool.

       The primary event is the startup(7) event, emitted when the daemon has finished loading its configuration.  Other  useful  events  are  the
       starting(7), started(7), stopping(7) and stopped(7) events emitted as jobs change state.

       See upstart-events(7) for a summary of well-known events.

   System V compatibility
       The  Upstart  init(8)  daemon  does  not keep track of runlevels itself, instead they are implemented entirely by its userspace tools.  The
       event emitted to signify a change of runlevel is the runlevel(7) event.	For more information see its manual page.

OPTIONS
       Options are passed to init(8) by placing them on the kernel command-line.

       --confdir directory
	      Read job configuration files from a directory other than /etc/init.

       --no-sessions
	      Disable user and chroot sessions.

       --no-startup-event
	      Suppress emission of the initial startup event. This option should only be used for testing since it will stop  the  init(8)  daemon
	      from starting any jobs automatically.

       --session
	      Connect to the D-Bus session bus. This should only be used for testing.

       --startup-event event
	      Specify a different initial startup event from the standard startup(7).

       --verbose
	      Outputs verbose messages about job state changes and event emissions to the system console or log, useful for debugging boot.

NOTES
       init  is not normally executed by a user process, and expects to have a process id of 1.  If this is not the case, it will actually execute
       telinit(8) and pass all arguments to that.  See that manual page for further details.

FILES
       /etc/init.conf

       /etc/init/*.conf

       $HOME/.init/

AUTHOR
       Written by Scott James Remnant <scott@netsplit.com>

REPORTING BUGS
       Report bugs at <https://launchpad.net/upstart/+bugs>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Canonical Ltd.
       This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICU-
       LAR PURPOSE.

SEE ALSO
       control-alt-delete(7) init(5) initctl(8) runlevel(7) startup(7) starting(7) started(7) stopping(7) stopped(7) telinit(8) upstart-events(7)

Upstart 							    2011-04-06								   init(8)