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INIT(1M)							      INIT(1M)

NAME
       init, telinit - process control initialization

SYNOPSIS
       /sbin/init [0123456abcQqSs]

       /etc/telinit [0123456abcQqSs]

DESCRIPTION
       init is the default primordial user process. (Options given to the ker‐
       nel during boot may result in the invocation of an alternative  primor‐
       dial user process, as described on kernel(1M)). init initiates the core
       components of the  service  management  facility,  svc.configd(1M)  and
       svc.startd(1M),	and  restarts these components if they fail. For back‐
       wards compatibility, init also starts and  restarts  general  processes
       according to /etc/inittab, as desribed below.

       The run levels and system booting descriptions given below are provided
       for compatibility purposes only, and otherwise  made  obsolete  by  the
       service management facility, smf(5).

   init Failure
       If  init	 exits	for  any reason other than system shutdown, it will be
       restarted with process-ID 1.

   Run Level Defined
       At any given time, the system is in one of eight possible run levels. A
       run level is a software configuration under which only a selected group
       of processes exists. Processes spawned by init for each	of  these  run
       levels  are  defined  in	 /etc/inittab. init can be in one of eight run
       levels, 0−6 and S or s (S and s are identical). The run	level  changes
       when a privileged user runs /sbin/init.

   init and System Booting
       When  the  system  is booted, init is invoked and the following occurs.
       First, it reads /etc/default/init to set environment variables. This is
       typically  where TZ (time zone) and locale-related environments such as
       LANG or LC_CTYPE get set. (See the FILES section at  the	 end  of  this
       page.)  init  then looks in /etc/inittab for the initdefault entry (see
       inittab(4)). If the initdefault entry:

       exists

	   init usually uses the run level specified in that entry as the ini‐
	   tial	 run level to enter only if the options/milestone property has
	   not been specified for svc.startd(1M).

       does not exist

	   The service management facility, smf(5), examines its configuration
	   specified  in svc.startd(1M), and enters the milestone specified by
	   the options/milestone property.

       The initdefault entry in /etc/inittab corresponds to the following  run
       levels:

       S or s

	   init	 goes to the single-user state. In this state, the system con‐
	   sole device (/dev/console) is opened for reading  and  writing  and
	   the	command /sbin/su, (see su(1M)), is invoked. Use either init or
	   telinit to change the run level of the system.  Note	 that  if  the
	   shell  is  terminated (using an end-of-file), init only re-initial‐
	   izes to the single-user state if /etc/inittab does not exist.

       0-6

	   init enters the corresponding run level. Run levels 0, 5, and 6 are
	   reserved  states for shutting the system down. Run levels 2, 3, and
	   4 are available as multi-user operating states.

       If this is the first time since power up that init has  entered	a  run
       level  other  than single-user state, init first scans /etc/inittab for
       boot and bootwait entries (see inittab(4)). These entries are performed
       before any other processing of /etc/inittab takes place, providing that
       the run level entered matches that of the entry. In this way  any  spe‐
       cial initialization of the operating system, such as mounting file sys‐
       tems, can take place before users are allowed  onto  the	 system.  init
       then  scans  /etc/inittab and executes all other entries that are to be
       processed for that run level.

       To spawn each process in /etc/inittab, init reads each  entry  and  for
       each entry that should be respawned, it forks a child process. After it
       has spawned all of the processes specified by /etc/inittab, init	 waits
       for  one	 of  its descendant processes to die, a powerfail signal, or a
       signal from another init or telinit process to change the system's  run
       level. When one of these conditions occurs, init re-examines /etc/init‐
       tab.

   inittab Additions
       New entries can be added to /etc/inittab at  any	 time;	however,  init
       still  waits  for one of the above three conditions to occur before re-
       examining /etc/inittab. To get around this, init Q or  init  q  command
       wakes init to re-examine /etc/inittab immediately.

       When  init  comes  up at boot time and whenever the system changes from
       the single-user state to another run  state,  init  sets	 the  ioctl(2)
       states	of   the   console   to	  those	  modes	  saved	 in  the  file
       /etc/ioctl.syscon.  init writes	this  file  whenever  the  single-user
       state is entered.

   Run Level Changes
       When  a run level change request is made, init or a designate sends the
       warning signal (SIGTERM) to all processes that  are  undefined  in  the
       target run level. A minimum interval of five seconds is observed before
       init or its designate forcibly terminates these processes by sending  a
       kill  signal  (SIGKILL). Additionally, init informs svc.startd(1M) that
       the run level is changing. svc.startd(1M) then restricts the system  to
       the  set of services which the milestone corresponding to the run-level
       change depends on.

       When init receives a signal telling it that a process  it  spawned  has
       died,  it records the fact and the reason it died in /var/adm/utmpx and
       /var/adm/wtmpx if it exists (see who(1)). A history  of	the  processes
       spawned is kept in /var/adm/wtmpx.

       If  init receives a powerfail signal (SIGPWR) it scans /etc/inittab for
       special entries of the type powerfail and powerwait. These entries  are
       invoked	(if the run levels permit) before any further processing takes
       place. In this way init can perform various cleanup and recording func‐
       tions during the powerdown of the operating system.

   Environment Variables in /etc/default/init
       You can set default values for environment variables, for such items as
       timezone and character formatting, in /etc/default/init. See the	 FILES
       section, below, for a list of these variables.

   telinit
       telinit,	 which	is linked to /sbin/init, is used to direct the actions
       of init. It takes a one-character argument and signals init to take the
       appropriate action.

SECURITY
       init  uses pam(3PAM) for session management. The PAM configuration pol‐
       icy, listed through /etc/pam.conf,  specifies  the  session  management
       module  to  be  used  for  init.	 Here  is a partial pam.conf file with
       entries for init using the UNIX session management module.

	 init	session	  required    pam_unix_session.so.1

       If there are no entries for the init service, then the entries for  the
       "other" service will be used.

OPTIONS
       0

	   Go into firmware.

       1

	   Put the system in system administrator mode. All local file systems
	   are mounted. Only a small set of  essential	kernel	processes  are
	   left	 running.  This	 mode  is  for	administrative	tasks  such as
	   installing optional utility packages.  All files are accessible and
	   no users are logged in on the system.

	   This	 request  corresponds  to a request for smf(5) to restrict the
	   system milestone to svc:/milestone/single-user:default.

       2

	   Put the system in multi-user mode. All multi-user environment  ter‐
	   minal  processes  and  daemons  are spawned. This state is commonly
	   referred to as the multi-user state.

	   This request corresponds to a request for smf(5)  to	 restrict  the
	   system milestone to svc:/milestone/multi-user:default.

       3

	   Extend multi-user mode by making local resources available over the
	   network.

	   This request corresponds to a request for smf(5)  to	 restrict  the
	   system milestone to svc:/milestone/multi-user-server:default.

       4

	   Is available to be defined as an alternative multi-user environment
	   configuration. It is not necessary for system operation and is usu‐
	   ally not used.

       5

	   Shut	 the machine down so that it is safe to remove the power. Have
	   the machine remove power, if possible.

       6

	   Stop the operating system and reboot to the state  defined  by  the
	   initdefault entry in /etc/inittab.

	   On  x86 systems, service svc:/system/boot-config:default is enabled
	   by default. When the config/fastreboot_default property is  set  to
	   true, init 6 will bypass the firmware.

       a,b,c

	   Process  only  those /etc/inittab entries having the a, b, or c run
	   level set. These are pseudo-states, which may  be  defined  to  run
	   certain  commands,  but which do not cause the current run level to
	   change.

       Q,q

	   Re-examine /etc/inittab.

       S, s

	   Enter single-user mode. This is the only  run  level	 that  doesn't
	   require the existence of a properly formatted /etc/inittab file. If
	   this file does not exist, then by default, the only legal run level
	   that	 init  can  enter is the single-user mode. When in single-user
	   mode, the filesystems required for basic system operation  will  be
	   mounted. When the system comes down to single-user mode, these file
	   systems will remain mounted (even if	 provided  by  a  remote  file
	   server), and any other local filesystems will also be left mounted.
	   During the transition  down	to  single-user	 mode,	all  processes
	   started  by	init  or init.d scripts that should only be running in
	   multi-user mode are killed. In addition, any	 process  that	has  a
	   utmpx  entry	 will  be killed. This last condition insures that all
	   port monitors started by  the  SAC  are  killed  and	 all  services
	   started  by	these  port monitors, including ttymon login services,
	   are killed.

	   This request corresponds to a request for smf(5)  to	 restrict  the
	   system milestone to svc:/milestone/single-user:default.

FILES
       /dev/console

	   System console device.

       /etc/default/init

	   Contains  environment variables and their default values. For exam‐
	   ple,	 for  the   timezone   variable,   TZ,	 you   might   specify
	   TZ=US/Pacific. The variables are:

	   TZ

	       Either  specifies  the  timezone information (see ctime(3C)) or
	       the name of a timezone  information  file  /usr/share/lib/zone‐
	       info.

	       Refer to the TIMEZONE(4) man page before changing this setting.

	   CMASK

	       The  mask  (see umask(1)) that init uses and that every process
	       inherits from the init process. If not set, init uses the  mask
	       it  inherits from the kernel. Note that init always attempts to
	       apply a umask of 022 before creating a file, regardless of  the
	       setting of CMASK

	   LC_CTYPE

	       Character characterization information

	   LC_MESSAGES

	       Message translation

	   LC_MONETARY

	       Monetary formatting information

	   LC_NUMERIC

	       Numeric formatting information

	   LC_TIME

	       Time formatting information

	   LC_ALL

	       If  set,	 all  other  LC_* environmental variables take-on this
	       value.

	   LANG

	       If LC_ALL is not set, and any particular LC_* is also not  set,
	       the  value  of  LANG  is used for that particular environmental
	       variable.

       /etc/inittab

	   Controls process dispatching by init.

       /etc/ioctl.syscon

	   ioctl states of the console, as  saved  by  init  when  single-user
	   state is entered.

       /etc/svc/volatile/init.state

	   init state necessary to recover from failure.

       /var/adm/utmpx

	   User access and administration information.

       /var/adm/wtmpx

	   History of user access and administration information.

       /var/run/initpipe

	   A named pipe used for internal communication.

SEE ALSO
       login(1),  sh(1),  stty(1),  who(1),  kernel(1M), shutdown(1M), su(1M),
       svc.configd(1M),	  svc.startd(1M),   ttymon(1M),	  ioctl(2),   kill(2),
       ctime(3C),  pam(3PAM), init.d(4), inittab(4), pam.conf(4), TIMEZONE(4),
       utmpx(4), attributes(5), pam_unix_session(5), smf(5), termio(7I)

DIAGNOSTICS
       If init finds that it is respawning an  entry  from  /etc/inittab  more
       than ten times in two minutes, it assumes that there is an error in the
       command string in the entry and generates an error message on the  sys‐
       tem  console.  It  then refuses to respawn this entry until either five
       minutes has elapsed or it receives a signal from a user-spawned init or
       telinit	command.  This	prevents  init from eating up system resources
       when someone makes a typographical error in the inittab file, or a pro‐
       gram is removed that is referenced in /etc/inittab.

NOTES
       init and telinit can be run only by a privileged user.

       The  S  or  s  state must not be used indiscriminately in /etc/inittab.
       When modifying this file, it is best to avoid adding this state to  any
       line other than initdefault.

       If  a  default  state  is  not  specified  in  the initdefault entry in
       /etc/inittab, state 6 is entered. Consequently, the system will loop by
       going to firmware and rebooting continuously.

       If the utmpx file cannot be created when booting the system, the system
       will boot to state "s" regardless of the state specified in the initde‐
       fault  entry in /etc/inittab. This can occur if the /var file system is
       not accessible.

       When a system transitions down to the S or s  state,  the  /etc/nologin
       file  (see  nologin(4))	is  created. Upon subsequent transition to run
       level 2, this file is removed.

       init uses /var/run/initpipe, a named pipe, for internal communication.

       The pam_unix(5) module is no longer supported. Similar functionality is
       provided by pam_unix_session(5).

				  Sep 2, 2009			      INIT(1M)
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