xref: /netbsd-src/sbin/init/init.8 (revision ae9172d6cd9432a6a1a56760d86b32c57a66c39c)
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35.\"     from: @(#)init.8	8.3 (Berkeley) 4/18/94
36.\"	$Id: init.8,v 1.5 1994/09/23 23:18:36 mycroft Exp $
37.\"
38.Dd April 18, 1994
39.Dt INIT 8
40.Os BSD 4
41.Sh NAME
42.Nm init
43.Nd process control initialization
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.Nm init
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47The
48.Nm init
49program
50is the last stage of the boot process.
51It normally runs the automatic reboot sequence as described in
52.Xr reboot 8 ,
53and if this succeeds, begins multi-user operation.
54If the reboot scripts fail,
55.Nm init
56commences single user operation by giving
57the super-user a shell on the console.
58The
59.Nm init
60program may be passed parameters
61from the boot program to
62prevent the system from going multi-user and to instead execute
63a single user shell without starting the normal daemons.
64The system is then quiescent for maintenance work and may
65later be made to go to multi-user by exiting the
66single-user shell (with ^D).
67This
68causes
69.Nm init
70to run the
71.Pa /etc/rc
72start up command file in fastboot mode (skipping disk checks).
73.Pp
74If the
75.Nm console
76entry in the
77.Xr ttys 5
78file is marked ``insecure'',
79then
80.Nm init
81will require that the superuser password be
82entered before the system will start a single-user shell.
83The password check is skipped if the
84.Nm console
85is marked as ``secure''.
86.Pp
87The kernel runs with four different levels of security.
88Any superuser process can raise the security level, but only
89.Nm init
90can lower it.
91Security levels are defined as follows:
92.Bl -tag -width flag
93.It Ic -1
94Permanently insecure mode \- always run system in level 0 mode.
95.It Ic 0
96Insecure mode \- immutable and append-only flags may be turned off.
97All devices may be read or written subject to their permissions.
98.It Ic 1
99Secure mode \- immutable and append-only flags may not be changed;
100disks for mounted filesystems,
101.Pa /dev/mem ,
102and
103.Pa /dev/kmem
104are read-only.
105.It Ic 2
106Highly secure mode \- same as secure mode, plus disks are always
107read-only whether mounted or not.
108This level precludes tampering with filesystems by unmounting them,
109but also inhibits running
110.Xr newfs 8
111while the system is multi-user.
112.El
113.Pp
114Normally, the system runs in level 0 mode while single user
115and in level 1 mode while multiuser.
116If the level 2 mode is desired while running multiuser,
117it can be set in the startup script
118.Pa /etc/rc
119using
120.Xr sysctl 8 .
121If it is desired to run the system in level 0 mode while multiuser,
122the administrator must build a kernel with the variable
123.Nm securelevel
124defined in the file
125.Pa /sys/arch/compile/MACHINE/param.c
126and initialize it to -1.
127.Pp
128In multi-user operation,
129.Nm init
130maintains
131processes for the terminal ports found in the file
132.Xr ttys 5 .
133.Nm Init
134reads this file, and executes the command found in the second field.
135This command is usually
136.Xr getty 8 ;
137.Xr getty
138opens and initializes the tty line
139and
140executes the
141.Xr login
142program.
143The
144.Xr login
145program, when a valid user logs in,
146executes a shell for that user.  When this shell
147dies, either because the user logged out
148or an abnormal termination occurred (a signal),
149the
150.Nm init
151program wakes up, deletes the user
152from the
153.Xr utmp 5
154file of current users and records the logout in the
155.Xr wtmp
156file.
157The cycle is
158then restarted by
159.Nm init
160executing a new
161.Xr getty
162for the line.
163.Pp
164Line status (on, off, secure, getty, or window information)
165may be changed in the
166.Xr ttys
167file without a reboot by sending the signal
168.Dv SIGHUP
169to
170.Nm init
171with the command
172.Dq Li "kill \-s HUP 1" .
173On receipt of this signal,
174.Nm init
175re-reads the
176.Xr ttys
177file.
178When a line is turned off in
179.Xr ttys ,
180.Nm init
181will send a SIGHUP signal to the controlling process
182for the session associated with the line.
183For any lines that were previously turned off in the
184.Xr ttys
185file and are now on,
186.Nm init
187executes a new
188.Xr getty
189to enable a new login.
190If the getty or window field for a line is changed,
191the change takes effect at the end of the current
192login session (e.g., the next time
193.Nm init
194starts a process on the line).
195If a line is commented out or deleted from
196.Xr ttys ,
197.Nm init
198will not do anything at all to that line.
199However, it will complain that the relationship between lines
200in the
201.Xr ttys
202file and records in the
203.Xr utmp
204file is out of sync,
205so this practice is not recommended.
206.Pp
207.Nm Init
208will terminate multi-user operations and resume single-user mode
209if sent a terminate
210.Pq Dv TERM
211signal, for example,
212.Dq Li "kill \-s TERM 1" .
213If there are processes outstanding that are deadlocked (because of
214hardware or software failure),
215.Xr init
216will not wait for them all to die (which might take forever), but
217will time out after 30 seconds and print a warning message.
218.Pp
219.Nm Init
220will cease creating new
221.Xr getty Ns 's
222and allow the system to slowly die away, if it is sent a terminal stop
223.Pq Dv TSTP
224signal, i.e.
225.Dq Li "kill \-s TSTP 1" .
226A later hangup will resume full
227multi-user operations, or a terminate will start a single user shell.
228This hook is used by
229.Xr reboot 8
230and
231.Xr halt 8 .
232.Pp
233The role of
234.Nm init
235is so critical that if it dies, the system will reboot itself
236automatically.
237If, at bootstrap time, the
238.Xr init
239process cannot be located, the system will panic with the message
240``panic: "init died (signal %d, exit %d)''.
241.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
242.Bl -diag
243.It "getty repeating too quickly on port %s, sleeping"
244A process being started to service a line is exiting quickly
245each time it is started.
246This is often caused by a ringing or noisy terminal line.
247.Em "Init will sleep for 10 seconds" ,
248.Em "then continue trying to start the process" .
249.Pp
250.It "some processes would not die; ps axl advised."
251A process
252is hung and could not be killed when the system was shutting down.
253This condition is usually caused by a process
254that is stuck in a device driver because of
255a persistent device error condition.
256.El
257.Sh FILES
258.Bl -tag -width /var/log/wtmp -compact
259.It Pa /dev/console
260System console device.
261.It Pa /dev/tty*
262Terminal ports found in
263.Xr ttys .
264.It Pa /var/run/utmp
265Record of Current users on the system.
266.It Pa /var/log/wtmp
267Record of all logins and logouts.
268.It Pa /etc/ttys
269The terminal initialization information file.
270.It Pa /etc/rc
271System startup commands.
272.El
273.Sh SEE ALSO
274.Xr login 1 ,
275.Xr kill 1 ,
276.Xr sh 1 ,
277.Xr ttys 5 ,
278.Xr crash 8 ,
279.Xr getty 8 ,
280.Xr rc 8 ,
281.Xr reboot 8 ,
282.Xr halt 8 ,
283.Xr shutdown 8
284.Sh HISTORY
285A
286.Nm
287command appeared in
288.At v6 .
289.Sh BUGS
290Systems without
291.Xr sysctl
292behave as though they have security level \-1.
293