Configuration of System V init under Debian GNU/Linux

Configuration of System V init under Debian GNU/Linux

 

Most Unix versions have a file here that describes how the scripts

in this directory work, and how the links in the /etc/rc?.d/ directories

influence system startup/shutdown.

 

For Debian, this information is contained in the policy manual, chapter 

"System run levels and init.d scripts".  The Debian Policy Manual is 

available at:

 

    http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/#contents

 

The Debian Policy Manual is also available in the Debian package

"debian-policy".  When this package is installed, the policy manual can be

found in directory /usr/share/doc/debian-policy. If you have a browser

installed you can probably read it at

 

    file://localhost/usr/share/doc/debian-policy/

 

Some more detailed information can also be found in the files in the

/usr/share/doc/sysv-rc directory.

 

Debian Policy dictates that /etc/init.d/*.sh scripts must work properly

when sourced.  The following additional rules apply:

 

* /etc/init.d/*.sh scripts must not rely for their correct functioning

  on their being sourced rather than executed.  That is, they must work

  properly when executed too. They must include "#!/bin/sh" at the top.

  This is useful when running scripts in parallel.

 

* /etc/init.d/*.sh scripts must conform to the rules for sh scripts as

  spelled out in the Debian policy section entitled "Scripts" (§10.4).

 

Use the update-rc.d command to create symbolic links in the /etc/rc?.d

as appropriate. See that man page for more details.

 

All init.d scripts are expected to have a LSB style header documenting

dependencies and default runlevel settings.  The header look like this

(not all fields are required):

 

### BEGIN INIT INFO

# Provides:          skeleton

# Required-Start:    $remote_fs $syslog

# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs $syslog

# Should-Start:      $portmap

# Should-Stop:       $portmap

# X-Start-Before:    nis

# X-Stop-After:      nis

# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5

# Default-Stop:      0 1 6

# X-Interactive:     true

# Short-Description: Example initscript

# Description:       This file should be used to construct scripts to be

#                    placed in /etc/init.d.

### END INIT INFO

 

More information on the format is available from insserv(8).  This

information is used to dynamicaly assign sequence numbers to the

boot scripts and to run the scripts in parallel during the boot.

See also /usr/share/doc/insserv/README.Debian.