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Sortix 1.1dev nightly manual

This manual documents Sortix 1.1dev nightly, a development build that has not been officially released. You can instead view this document in the latest official manual.

INIT(8)

System Manager's Manual

INIT(8)

NAME

init — system initialization

SYNOPSIS

init

[--target=init-target] [--] [chain-init ...]

DESCRIPTION

init is the first program run after system startup and is responsible for initializing the operating system and starting the specified init-target. This is normally a login screen, a root shell, or a dedicated special purpose program.

The kernel(7) starts the system in a temporary environment with a root filesystem backed by system memory and extracts the initrd(7) into it. The kernel runs the /sbin/init program of the system memory root filesystem as the first process. If the system is on bootable cdrom, then the initrd will be a fully functional system and init will start a live environment or an operating system installer. If the system is installed on a harddisk, then the initrd is a minimal system made with update-initrd(8) that will search for the actual root filesystem and chain init it. The next stage init will recognize it as the intended system and complete the system startup.

Initialization Target

init first determines its target from the --target option if specified or /etc/init/target otherwise. Supported targets are:

chain: mount real root filesystem and run its init.
chain-merge: like chain but run /sysmerge/sbin/init with the merge target.
merge: finish a sysmerge(8) upgrade and then execute the real init with its default target.
multi-user: boot to login(8).
single-user: boot to root shell without password (not secure).
sysinstall: boot to operating system installer (not secure).
sysupgrade: boot to operating system upgrader (not secure).

It is a full system compromise if unauthenticated users are able to boot the wrong target. The kernel command line can specify the path to init and its arguments. Unprivileged users can change the kernel command line from the bootloader command line if it hasn't been password protected. Likewise unprivileged users can use their own replacement bootloader by booting a portable device under their control if the firmware configuration has not been password protected.

Cleanup of /tmp

init deletes everything inside of /tmp if it exists, otherwise it is created with mode 1777.

Partition Creation

init will scan every block device for valid partition tables and create the corresponding partition devices in /dev.

Chain Initialization

The chain target mounts the root filesystem as in /etc/fstab (see fstab(5)) and runs the next init program. This is used by update-initrd(8) to make a bootstrap initrd(7).

Every block device and partition is scanned to determine if it is the root filesystem. It is checked for consistency if necessary. It is mounted at /tmp/fs.XXXXXX and the /dev filesystem directory is bound at /tmp/fs.XXXXXX/dev.

Finally the /sbin/init program (or chain-init if specified) of the target root filesystem is run inside a chroot.

Configuration

Once the init of the real root filesystem runs, it will process basic configuration files and apply them:

/etc/hostname: set hostname (see hostname(5))
/etc/kblayout: set keyboard layout (see kblayout(5))
/etc/videomode: set graphics resolution (see videomode(5))

Mountpoints

init mounts all the filesystems according to fstab(5).

Random Seed

init will write 256 bytes of randomness to /boot/random.seed, which serves as the initial entropy for the kernel(7) on the next boot. The file is also written on system shutdown where the system has the most entropy.

Merge

The merge target completes a delayed system upgrade by invoking the sysmerge(8) at /sysmerge/sbin/sysmerge with the --booting option. If the upgrade succeeds, the temporary init deinitializes the system and invokes the real (now upgraded) init which will restart system initialization in the normal fashion.

Session

Finally init will start the target program according to its initialization target. This will be a login screen, a root shell, or something else. If the process exits abnormally init will automatically restart it. init will exit with the same exit status as the process if it exits normally. The kernel decides whether to power off, reboot or halt based on this exit status.

ENVIRONMENT

init sets the following environment variables.

HOME: root's home directory
INIT_PID: init's process id
LOGNAME: root
PATH: /bin:/sbin
SHELL: root's shell
TERM: sortix
USER: root

FILES

/boot/random.seed: initial kernel entropy
/etc/init/target: default initialization target
/etc/fstab: filesystem table (see fstab(5))
/etc/hostname: hostname (see hostname(5))
/etc/kblayout: keyboard layout (see kblayout(5))
/etc/videomode: graphics resolution (see videomode(5))

EXIT STATUS

init exits 0 if the kernel should power off, exits 1 if the kernel should reboot, or exits 2 if the boot failed and the kernel should halt with a complaint about an init fatality. Any other exit by the initial init will cause the kernel to halt with a complaint about an unexpected exit code. init exits with the same exit status as its target session if it terminates normally.