1 TITLE: Setting up LFS to have BSD-style (Slackware) init.
3 AUTHOR: Marc Heerdink <marc@koelkast.net>
6 This hint deals with an alternative way of booting your system.
12 2. Setting up the inittab
13 3. Creating the boot scripts
15 5. The words of wisdom
21 Since LFS uses SYSV init scripts by default, about everybody who has an LFS
22 system uses this kind of init. But a few days ago, i read about someone on the
23 mailing list who wanted to setup BSD style init. Since i was using this since
24 the beginning i decided to write a hint for everybody who wants to use BSD
25 style init (or just wants to try it).
27 BSD init uses the normal SYSV init program, but a different inittab and has
28 the boot scripts arranged different. BSD boots your system in a much less
29 complicated way, so the scripts are easier to maintain. I think one should
30 read this hint before installing either init, because the decision should
31 preferably made before the first boot.
33 This HINT will be never complete, comments can be sent to
34 marc@koelkast.net. I'm working on a hint for a mixed-mode init like I
35 used on my first LFS system (I currently have only BSD style init scripts).
38 2. SETTING UP THE INITTAB
40 The inittab resides in /etc and configures your init. Before you start
41 writing it, you should realize that a wrong inittab will probably result (in
42 the worst case) in a kernel panic, but at least a lot of trouble booting your
43 system. You'll have to choose what runlevels you want to use before you begin,
44 too. I have the following setup (this example is quite good and will be used
45 during the rest of this hint):
47 RUNLEVEL: DESCRIPTION:
48 0 Power down the system
51 2 Multi user runlevel with console login
52 3 Multi user runlevel with graphical login
57 I don't recommend changing the purpose of runlevels 0, 6 and S because
58 they should be configured like this for many programs. So we'll stick with
59 their function. Because I use only 3 modes for booting (Single User, Console
60 Multi User and Graphical Multi User) runlevels 4 and 5 are aliases for
61 runlevel 2 (default). You can change their purpose to whatever you like, but
62 I suggest you'll do that after you finished this hint.
64 Now let's get to business! Put this in your /etc/inittab:
66 -------------------------------/etc/inittab----------------------------------
69 si:S:sysinit:/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
71 l0:0:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.0
72 l1:1:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.1
73 l2:2:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.2
74 l3:3:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.3
75 l4:4:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.4
76 l5:5:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.5
77 l6:6:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc.6
79 ca:12345:ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t1 -r now
81 su:S1:respawn:/sbin/sulogin
83 c1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty tty1 38400 linux
84 c2:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty tty2 38400 linux
85 c3:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty tty3 38400 linux
86 c4:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty tty4 38400 linux
87 c5:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty tty5 38400 linux
88 c6:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty tty6 38400 linux
89 ----------------------------end of /etc/inittab------------------------------
91 This is a pretty basic configuration but should do for about everybody. As
92 you can see, init first starts /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit and then loads the needed
93 file for the default runlevel (/etc/rc.d/rc.2).
96 3. CREATING THE BOOT SCRIPTS
98 Let's create /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit first:
100 -----------------------------/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit----------------------------
102 echo "Mounting root device read-only..."
103 /bin/mount -n -o remount,ro /
105 echo "Initializing swap partitions..."
109 if [ $? -gt 1 ]; then
112 echo "Your filesystem has been severely damaged. You can probably correct this"
113 echo "problem by running e2fsck manually (eg. with the -v and -y options). After"
114 echo "you logout, the system will reboot."
116 PS1="(Repair filesystem)# "
123 echo "Remounting root device read-write..."
124 /bin/mount -n -v -o remount,rw /
127 /bin/mount -f -o remount,rw /
129 echo "Mounting other local filesystems..."
130 /bin/mount -a -v -tnonfs
132 echo "Setting up hostname..."
133 /bin/hostname `cat /etc/HOSTNAME |cut -d . -f1`
134 /bin/domainname `cat /etc/HOSTNAME |cut -d . -f2-`
136 if [ -f "/tmp/random-seed" ]; then
137 echo "Initializing random number generator..."
138 /bin/cat /tmp/random-seed >/dev/urandom
139 rm -f /tmp/random-seed
142 echo "Loading keymap..."
145 echo "Setting system time from hardware clock..."
146 /sbin/hwclock --hctosys --utc
148 echo "Starting system and kernel log daemons...."
152 echo "Updating module dependencies..."
154 -------------------------end of /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit-------------------------
156 To make the hostname lines work as expected, create a file /etc/HOSTNAME
157 which holds your fqdn (Full Qualified Domain Name). That is, for example,
158 foo.bar.com or gimli.gimli.org. The last line is optional and is only useful
159 if you're using modules. A last note on the hwclock command: if your system
160 clock isn't configured for using UTC (that means you're using local time) you
161 should drop the --utc options from that line. Read the Time hint for more
164 Now let's create the script for the single user runlevel. Since this
165 runlevel won't be used very often to boot in, but instead to fall back to if
166 something happens to the system, all running programs will be killed so you're
167 in a very clean environment when running in single user mode.
169 --------------------------------/etc/rc.d/rc.1-------------------------------
171 echo "Unmounting remote filesystems..."
174 # insert a line for each network card you use here. This is an example for
175 # a single network card set-up (configured as eth0):
177 # echo "Bringing down network interface eth0..."
178 # /sbin/ifconfig eth0 down
180 echo "Sending all processes the TERM signal..."
184 echo "Sending all processes the KILL signal..."
186 ----------------------------end of /etc/rc.d/rc.1----------------------------
188 If this script has run, no daemons have been left except the kernel daemons
189 and init. After it has finished sulogin will be started (that's what the line
190 "su:S1:respawn:/sbin/sulogin" is for :) so only root can use the system. All
191 virtual consoles will be disabled.
193 Let's get on to the next script, /etc/rc.d/rc.2. This file has many common
194 options in it, eg. to set up networking and start network daemons. Remove
195 every line you won't use, but don't add anything before you read chapter 4.
197 --------------------------------/etc/rc.d/rc.2-------------------------------
199 # In this example, the network card is configured with 192.168.0.2 as ip
200 # address and a netmask of 255.255.255.0. This network card uses 192.168.0.1
201 # as the default gateway. This is the set up you would use if the box
202 # 192.168.0.1 would be the gateway.
204 # The "window 16384" option in the route command is optional but will
205 # your network speed.
206 echo "Setting up networking..."
207 /sbin/ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.2 broadcast 192.168.0.255 netmask 255.255.255.0
208 /sbin/route add -net default gw 192.168.0.1 netmask 0.0.0.0 window 16384 metric 1
210 echo "Mounting remote filesystems..."
211 /bin/mount -a -v -tnfs
213 if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.local ]; then
216 ----------------------------end of /etc/rc.d/rc.2----------------------------
218 Now copy /etc/rc.d/rc.2 to /etc/rc.d/rc.3 and add the following to the
221 ------------------------------------snip-------------------------------------
222 echo "Starting graphical login manager..."
224 if [ -x /opt/kde/bin/kdm ]; then
225 /opt/kde/bin/kdm -nodaemon
226 elif [ -x /usr/bin/gdm ]; then
227 /usr/bin/gdm -nodaemon
228 elif [ -x /usr/X11R6/bin/xdm ]; then
229 /usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon
231 echo "You chose to start graphical login mode, but you don't have either KDM or"
232 echo "GDM or XDM installed. This script looks for these display managers in the"
233 echo "following locations:"
235 echo " KDM /opt/kde/bin/kdm"
236 echo " GDM /usr/bin/gdm"
237 echo " XDM /usr/X11R6/bin/xdm"
239 echo "This message will go away in 10 seconds, and after that you will be dropped"
240 echo "in runlevel 2."
244 ----------------------------end of /etc/rc.d/rc.3----------------------------
246 The script is pretty self-explaining. It looks for the most commonly used
247 display manages in their default locations. If none of them is found, a
248 warning will be displayed and the system will change to runlevel 2 with a
249 normal console login screen.
251 Now we have created all bootscripts except /etc/rc.d/rc.0 and
252 /etc/rc.d/rc.6. Since they both perform pretty much the same function, we'll
255 --------------------------------/etc/rc.d/rc.0-------------------------------
257 echo "Sending all processes the TERM signal..."
261 echo "Sending all processes the KILL signal..."
265 echo "Deactivating swap partitions..."
268 echo "Saving random seed to a temporary file..."
269 /bin/dd if=/dev/urandom of=/tmp/random-seed count=1 bs=512 2>/dev/null
271 echo "Saving the system time to hardware clock..."
272 /sbin/hwclock --systohc --utc
274 echo "Unmounting remote filesystems..."
275 /bin/umount -a -f -tnfs
286 echo "Remounting root filesystem read-only..."
287 /bin/mount -n -o remount,ro /
289 echo "Unmounting local filesystems..."
290 /bin/umount -a -tnonfs
292 echo "Flushing filesystem buffers..."
297 echo "Please stand by while rebooting..."
298 /sbin/reboot -d -f -i
305 ----------------------------end of /etc/rc.d/rc.0----------------------------
307 Some notes on this file: the hwclock should be configured like the one in
308 /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit (no --utc if your hardware clock uses local time). The
319 construction writes some status information to /etc/wtmp. It's a good idea to
320 do this, but you can safely remove it. At about two-third of the file, I call
321 /bin/sync. This program flushes the filesystem buffers so you won't loose any
322 data. Like the construction above, this is optional but I recommend it.
324 Now we have create all the required files, some changes have to made to
325 make them work. Run the following commands to do this:
327 chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/rc.0 /etc/rc.d/rc.1 /etc/rc.d/rc.2
328 chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/rc.3 /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
329 ln -s /etc/rc.d/rc.2 /etc/rc.d/rc.4
330 ln -s /etc/rc.d/rc.2 /etc/rc.d/rc.5
331 ln -s /etc/rc.d/rc.0 /etc/rc.d/rc.6
333 You've done it! Take a deep breath and type (as root) "reboot" and watch
334 your system boot with BSD style init scripts! If you have troubles using
335 these scripts, drop me a line: marc@koelkast.net.
338 4. THE RC.LOCAL ISSUE
340 As you probably know, it is common to have a /etc/rc.d/rc.local file where
341 you put commands in that will be executen at the end of the boot process. You
342 can use it to create for example up-to-date issue files or to pick a random
343 message of the day. But since you created all bootscripts yourself, you can
344 change them as much as you like, and you probably won't need this script. So
345 what's it going to be?
347 I personally recommend you create this script, for the purpose of
348 portability. Many daemons write one or two lines to this file, and it saves
349 you trouble if it's already present. This is how you create one:
351 Put this in a file /etc/rc.d/rc.local:
353 -------------------------------/etc/rc.d/rc.local----------------------------
355 -----------------------------end /etc/rc.d/rc.local--------------------------
357 No, I didn't make a typo... :) I can't make this file for you, because
358 you have to decide for yourself what you want to put in it (and, of course,
359 what you don't want in it). Make this script executable by doing this:
361 chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/rc.local
363 It is very easy for you to disable /etc/rc.d/rc.local; just remove
364 the executable flag from the script and it will be skipped at boot time.
367 5. THE WORDS OF WISDOM
369 I suppose you want to adapt these scripts to your personal needs. Before
370 you do that, I would like to give you some advice on where to put the programs
371 you start and what programs you shouldn't use.
373 Let's start with the kernel modules. These are often loaded in a very early
374 stage, so we'll do that too. I suggest you insert modprobe lines after the
375 depmod line in /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit. One exception should be made for network
376 cards, especially on machines with much traffic or machines with l337 h4x0r5
377 as clients. To be sure you're safe, you should load the network card modules
378 from /etc/rc.d/rc.2 and /etc/rc.d/rc.3, since they're only needed in multi
379 user modes. In case of a system error, you can reboot your system safely in
380 single user mode without networking.
382 Many people use hdparm to tweak their hard drives. I run hdparm from the
383 system initialization script, because I want a fast hard drive in single user
384 mode too :). It doesn't make too much sense to me to run hdparm when
385 everything else is already loaded, since booting the system is quite hard disk
386 intensive and a faster hard drive will really boost it.
388 Networking daemons, such as name servers, apache and mysql should obviously
389 be loaded from the multi user startup scripts, since you won't need them in
390 single user environments.
392 If you have installed netkit-base for your network card, you will probably
393 want a loopback device available for many programs. To get one, put the
394 following in /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit just before setting up the hostname:
396 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
397 echo "Setting up loopback networking..."
398 /sbin/ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1
399 /sbin/route add -net 127.0.0.0 netmask 255.0.0.0 lo
400 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
402 As a final tip in this section, I would like to point out to you that I
403 have often had a multi-user environment without networking. It would be a
404 good practice for you to set up this environment on, for example, runlevel 5
405 and set it up in a secure way. This implies you have to decide whether you
406 really need a service or not, to avoid any damage that may be caused by your
412 I hope you learnt from this hint how a BSD style init works. Although this
413 setup is not the same as Slackwares or BSDs setup, the idea is basically the
414 same. If you have comments on this hint, or you just liked it, please mail me
415 at marc@koelkast.net. Bye for now, and watch out for hint updates.