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Linux in a Nutshell, Third Edition
book

Linux in a Nutshell, Third Edition

by Ellen Siever, Stephen Spainhour, Jessica P. Hekman, Stephen Figgins
August 2000
Intermediate to advanced
816 pages
29h 45m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Linux in a Nutshell, Third Edition

Name

init

Synopsis

init [option] [runlevel]

Description

System administration command.

Option

-t seconds

When changing runlevels, send SIGKILL seconds after SIGTERM. Default is 20.

Files

init is the first process run by any Unix machine at boot time. It verifies the integrity of all filesystems and then creates other processes, using fork and exec, as specified by /etc/inittab. Which processes may be run are controlled by runlevel. All process terminations are recorded in /var/run/utmp and /var/log/wtmp. When the runlevel changes, init sends SIGTERM and then, after 20 seconds, SIGKILL to all processes that cannot be run in the new runlevel.

Runlevels

The current runlevel may be changed by telinit, which is often just a link to init. The default runlevels vary from distribution to distribution, but these are standard:

0

Halt the system.

1, s, S

Single-user mode.

6

Reboot the system.

q, Q

Reread /etc/inittab.

Check the /etc/inittab file for runlevels on your system.

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596000251Catalog PageErrata