In Unix-based computer operating systems, init (short for initialization) is the first process started during booting of the computer system. It has several characteristics:
Its process ID (PID) is always 1
It remain existed until the system is shutted down
It is the direct or indirect ancestor of any other process, and takes any orphaned process
Init is started by the kernel using a hard-coded filename; a kernel panic will occur if the kernel is unable to start it.
In Unix systems such as System III and System V, the design of init has diverged from the functionality provided by the init in Research Unix and its BSD derivatives. The usage in most Linux distributions employing a traditional init rather than a recent variant such as systemd is somewhat compatible with System V, while some distributions, such as Slackware, use BSD-style startup scripts; or deepin, use systemd - a new daemon system which attracts most of the desktop users these days.
BSD-styled init runs the initialization shell script located in /etc/rc, then launched getty on terminals under the control of /etc/ttys. There are no runlevels; the /etc/rc file determines what programs are run by init. The advantage of this system is that it is simple and easy to edit manually. However, new software added to the system may require changes to existing files that risk producing an unbootable system.
It is worth noting that modern BSD variants have long supported a site-specific /etc/rc.local file that is run in a sub-shell near the end of the boot sequence. This reduce the risk that the whole system is broke by changes in /etc/rc. Then start/stop scripts provided by third-party software can be installed to local repository /etc/rc.d (which is usually done by ports collection/pkgsrc).
FreeBSD and NetBSD now use rc.d as their default directory for init. Like Sys-V, any user-level startup script is splitted into sub-scripts, and the executing order is determined by rcorder according to their dependencies.
Sys V Init checks the "initdefault" entry in file /etc/inittab, then switch to that default Runlevel. If the entry does not exists, user will be dropped to console, and need to manually select a Runlevel.
Runlevel is usually a number, ranged from 0 to 6, representing the running mode of Unix and Unix-like operating system (e.g. Linux). In deepin linux, the relation of Runlevel and the path of startup scripts is shown as following:
| Path of startup scripts | Runlevel |
|---|---|
| /etc/rc0.d | 0 |
| /etc/rc1.d | 1 |
| /etc/rc2.d | 2 |
| /etc/rc3.d | 3 |
| /etc/rc4.d | 4 |
| /etc/rc5.d | 5 |
| /etc/rc6.d | 6 |
As for deepin, Runlevel 0 ~ 6 represent following behaviors:
| Runlevel | System Behavior |
|---|---|
| 0 | All process are terminated. The machine is halted |
| 1 | Single user mode. For system maintenance. Only a few process is running, and no service is started |
| 2 | Multiple user mode. Similar to Runlevel 3, except that NFS service is not started |
| 3 | Multiple user mode. Default Runlevel of system. Allow multiple login |
| 4 | Reserved for user customization |
| 5 | Multiple user mode. X server is launched after startup process, providing a graphical interface for login |
| 6 | All process are terminated. The machine restart |
The default Runlevel of deepin is 5. Use runlevel command in terminal to show current Runlevel:
runlevel
Run following command in terminal:
init [0123456Ss]
The parameter after "init" represent the Runlevel you would like to switch to.
Notice: init 0 = shutting down; init 6 = restarting.
File /etc/init/rc-sysinit.conf needs to be modified. Run in terminal:
sudo gedit /etc/init/rc-sysinit.conf
Find the following line
env DEFAULT_RUNLEVEL=2
And change the number into the level you prefer.
Notice: Please do not change default Runlevel to 0, 4 or 6. Otherwire, system may not start up normally.