INIT(8) FreeBSD 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 execute 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 (skipping 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". Note that the password check does not
protect from variables such as init_script being set from the loader(8)
command line; see the SECURITY section of loader(8).
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 programs
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.
init passes "single" as the argument to the shutdown script if return to
single-user mode is requested. Otherwise, "reboot" argument is used.
After all user processes have been terminated, init will try to run the
/etc/rc.final script. This script can be used to finally prepare and
unmount filesystems that may have been needed during shutdown, for
instance.
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 SIGUSR1 Halt
0 SIGUSR2 Halt and turn the power off
0 SIGWINCH Halt and turn the power off and then back on
1 SIGTERM Go to single-user mode
6 SIGINT Reboot the machine
c SIGTSTP Block further logins
q SIGHUP Rescan the ttys(5) file
KERNEL ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following kenv(2) variables are available as loader(8) tunables:
init_chroot
If set to a valid directory in the root file system, it causes
init to perform a chroot(2) operation on that directory, making
it the new root directory. That happens before entering single-
user mode or multi-user mode (but after executing the init_script
if enabled). This functionality has generally been eclipsed by
rerooting. See reboot(8) -r for details.
init_exec
If set to a valid file name in the root file system, instructs
init to directly execute that file as the very first action,
replacing init as PID 1.
init_script
If set to a valid file name in the root file system, instructs
init to run that script as the very first action, before doing
anything else. Signal handling and exit code interpretation is
similar to running the /etc/rc script. In particular, single-
user operation is enforced if the script terminates with a non-
zero exit code, or if a SIGTERM is delivered to the init process
(PID 1). This functionality has generally been eclipsed by
rerooting. See reboot(8) -r for details.
init_shell
Defines the shell binary to be used for executing the various
shell scripts. The default is "/bin/sh". It is used for running
the init_exec or init_script if set, as well as for the /etc/rc,
/etc/rc.shutdown, and /etc/rc.final scripts. The value of the
corresponding kenv(2) variable is evaluated every time init calls
a shell script, so it can be changed later on using the kenv(1)
utility. In particular, if a non-default shell is used for
running an init_script, it might be desirable to have that script
reset the value of init_shell back to the default, so that the
/etc/rc script is executed with the standard shell /bin/sh.
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
/etc/rc.final system shutdown commands (after process termination)
/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 1 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 preferred
location to set the security level is at the end of /etc/rc after all
multi-user startup actions are complete.
FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6 July 22, 2021 FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6
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