xref: /freebsd/share/man/man8/rc.8 (revision d7149f4e5176e24d02ef4cc3a0636623153209f0)
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31.\"     @(#)rc.8	8.2 (Berkeley) 12/11/93
32.\" $FreeBSD$
33.\"
34.Dd December 25, 2013
35.Dt RC 8
36.Os
37.Sh NAME
38.Nm rc
39.Nd command scripts for auto-reboot and daemon startup
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.Nm
42.Nm rc.conf
43.Nm rc.conf.local
44.Nm rc.d/
45.Nm rc.firewall
46.Nm rc.local
47.Nm rc.shutdown
48.Nm rc.subr
49.Sh DESCRIPTION
50The
51.Nm
52utility is the command script which controls the automatic boot process
53after being called by
54.Xr init 8 .
55The
56.Nm rc.local
57script contains commands which are pertinent only
58to a specific site.
59Typically, the
60.Pa /usr/local/etc/rc.d/
61mechanism is used instead of
62.Nm rc.local
63these days but if
64you want to use
65.Nm rc.local ,
66it is still supported.
67In this case, it should source
68.Pa /etc/rc.conf
69and contain additional custom startup code for your system.
70The best way to handle
71.Nm rc.local ,
72however, is to separate it out into
73.Nm rc.d/
74style scripts and place them under
75.Pa /usr/local/etc/rc.d/ .
76The
77.Nm rc.conf
78file contains the global system configuration information referenced
79by the startup scripts, while
80.Nm rc.conf.local
81contains the local system configuration.
82See
83.Xr rc.conf 5
84for more information.
85.Pp
86The
87.Nm rc.d/
88directories contain scripts which will be automatically
89executed at boot time and shutdown time.
90.Ss Operation of Nm
91.Bl -enum
92.It
93If autobooting, set
94.Va autoboot Ns = Ns Li yes
95and enable a flag
96.Pq Va rc_fast Ns = Ns Li yes ,
97which prevents the
98.Nm rc.d/
99scripts from performing the check for already running processes
100(thus speeding up the boot process).
101This
102.Va rc_fast Ns = Ns Li yes
103speedup will not occur when
104.Nm
105is started up after exiting the single-user shell.
106.It
107Determine whether the system is booting diskless,
108and if so run the
109.Pa /etc/rc.initdiskless
110script.
111.It
112Source
113.Pa /etc/rc.subr
114to load various
115.Xr rc.subr 8
116shell functions to use.
117.It
118Load the configuration files.
119.It
120Determine if booting in a jail,
121and add
122.Dq Li nojail
123(no jails allowed) or
124.Dq Li nojailvnet
125(only allow vnet-enabled jails) to the list of KEYWORDS to skip in
126.Xr rcorder 8 .
127.It
128If the file
129.Va ${firstboot_sentinel}
130does not exist, add
131.Dq Li firstboot
132to the list of KEYWORDS to skip in
133.Xr rcorder 8 .
134.It
135Invoke
136.Xr rcorder 8
137to order the files in
138.Pa /etc/rc.d/
139that do not have a
140.Dq Li nostart
141KEYWORD (refer to
142.Xr rcorder 8 Ns 's
143.Fl s
144flag).
145.It
146Call each script in turn using
147.Fn run_rc_script
148(from
149.Xr rc.subr 8 ) ,
150which sets
151.Va $1
152to
153.Dq Li start ,
154and sources the script in a subshell.
155If the script has a
156.Pa .sh
157suffix then it is sourced directly into the current shell.
158Stop processing when the script that is the value of the
159.Va $early_late_divider
160has been run.
161.It
162Check again to see if the file
163.Va ${firstboot_sentinel}
164exists (in case it is located on a newly mounted file system)
165and adjust the list of KEYWORDs to skip appropriately.
166.It
167Re-run
168.Xr rcorder 8 ,
169this time including the scripts in the
170.Va $local_startup
171directories.
172Ignore everything up to the
173.Va $early_late_divider ,
174then start executing the scripts as described above.
175.It
176If the file
177.Va ${firstboot_sentinel}
178exists, delete it.
179If the file
180.Va ${firstboot_sentinel}-reboot
181also exists (because it was created by a script), then delete it and reboot.
182.El
183.Ss Operation of Nm rc.shutdown
184.Bl -enum
185.It
186Source
187.Pa /etc/rc.subr
188to load various
189.Xr rc.subr 8
190shell functions to use.
191.It
192Load the configuration files.
193.It
194Invoke
195.Xr rcorder 8
196to order the files in
197.Pa /etc/rc.d/
198and the
199.Va $local_startup
200directories
201that have a
202.Dq Li shutdown
203KEYWORD (refer to
204.Xr rcorder 8 Ns 's
205.Fl k
206flag),
207reverse that order, and assign the result to a variable.
208.It
209Call each script in turn using
210.Fn run_rc_script
211(from
212.Xr rc.subr 8 ) ,
213which sets
214.Va $1
215to
216.Dq Li stop ,
217and sources the script in a subshell.
218If the script has a
219.Pa .sh
220suffix then it is sourced directly into the current shell.
221.El
222.Ss Contents of Nm rc.d/
223.Nm rc.d/
224is located in
225.Pa /etc/rc.d/ .
226The following file naming conventions are currently used in
227.Nm rc.d/ :
228.Bl -tag -width ".Pa ALLUPPERCASE" -offset indent
229.It Pa ALLUPPERCASE
230Scripts that are
231.Dq placeholders
232to ensure that certain operations are performed before others.
233In order of startup, these are:
234.Bl -tag -width ".Pa NETWORKING"
235.It Pa NETWORKING
236Ensure basic network services are running, including general
237network configuration.
238.It Pa SERVERS
239Ensure basic services
240exist for services that start early (such as
241.Pa nisdomain ) ,
242because they are required by
243.Pa DAEMON
244below.
245.It Pa DAEMON
246Check-point before all general purpose daemons such as
247.Pa lpd
248and
249.Pa ntpd .
250.It Pa LOGIN
251Check-point before user login services
252.Pa ( inetd
253and
254.Pa sshd ) ,
255as well as services which might run commands as users
256.Pa ( cron
257and
258.Pa sendmail ) .
259.El
260.It Pa foo.sh
261Scripts that are to be sourced into the current shell rather than a subshell
262have a
263.Pa .sh
264suffix.
265Extreme care must be taken in using this, as the startup sequence will
266terminate if the script does.
267.It Pa bar
268Scripts that are sourced in a subshell.
269The boot does not stop if such a script terminates with a non-zero status,
270but a script can stop the boot if necessary by invoking the
271.Fn stop_boot
272function (from
273.Xr rc.subr 8 ) .
274.El
275.Pp
276Each script should contain
277.Xr rcorder 8
278keywords, especially an appropriate
279.Dq Li PROVIDE
280entry, and if necessary
281.Dq Li REQUIRE
282and
283.Dq Li BEFORE
284keywords.
285.Pp
286Each script is expected to support at least the following arguments, which
287are automatically supported if it uses the
288.Fn run_rc_command
289function:
290.Bl -tag -width ".Cm restart" -offset indent
291.It Cm start
292Start the service.
293This should check that the service is to be started as specified by
294.Xr rc.conf 5 .
295Also checks if the service is already running and refuses to start if
296it is.
297This latter check is not performed by standard
298.Fx
299scripts if the system is starting directly to multi-user mode, to
300speed up the boot process.
301If
302.Cm forcestart
303is given, ignore the
304.Xr rc.conf 5
305check and start anyway.
306.It Cm stop
307If the service is to be started as specified by
308.Xr rc.conf 5 ,
309stop the service.
310This should check that the service is running and complain if it is not.
311If
312.Cm forcestop
313is given, ignore the
314.Xr rc.conf 5
315check and attempt to stop.
316.It Cm restart
317Perform a
318.Cm stop
319then a
320.Cm start .
321.It Cm status
322If the script starts a process (rather than performing a one-off
323operation), show the status of the process.
324Otherwise it is not necessary to support this argument.
325Defaults to displaying the process ID of the program (if running).
326.It Cm poll
327If the script starts a process (rather than performing a one-off
328operation), wait for the command to exit.
329Otherwise it is not necessary to support this argument.
330.It Cm enabled
331Return 0 if the service is enabled and 1 if it is not.
332This command does not print anything.
333.It Cm rcvar
334Display which
335.Xr rc.conf 5
336variables are used to control the startup of the service (if any).
337.El
338.Pp
339If a script must implement additional commands it can list them in
340the
341.Va extra_commands
342variable, and define their actions in a variable constructed from
343the command name (see the
344.Sx EXAMPLES
345section).
346.Pp
347The following key points apply to old-style scripts in
348.Pa /usr/local/etc/rc.d/ :
349.Bl -bullet
350.It
351Scripts are only executed if their
352.Xr basename 1
353matches the shell globbing pattern
354.Pa *.sh ,
355and they are executable.
356Any other files or directories present within the directory are silently
357ignored.
358.It
359When a script is executed at boot time, it is passed the string
360.Dq Li start
361as its first and only argument.
362At shutdown time, it is passed the string
363.Dq Li stop
364as its first and only argument.
365All
366.Nm rc.d/
367scripts are expected to handle these arguments appropriately.
368If no action needs to be taken at a given time
369(either boot time or shutdown time),
370the script should exit successfully and without producing an error message.
371.It
372The scripts within each directory are executed in lexicographical order.
373If a specific order is required,
374numbers may be used as a prefix to the existing filenames,
375so for example
376.Pa 100.foo
377would be executed before
378.Pa 200.bar ;
379without the numeric prefixes the opposite would be true.
380.It
381The output from each script is traditionally a space character,
382followed by the name of the software package being started or shut down,
383.Em without
384a trailing newline character (see the
385.Sx EXAMPLES
386section).
387.El
388.Sh SCRIPTS OF INTEREST
389When an automatic reboot is in progress,
390.Nm
391is invoked with the argument
392.Cm autoboot .
393One of the scripts run from
394.Pa /etc/rc.d/
395is
396.Pa /etc/rc.d/fsck .
397This script runs
398.Xr fsck 8
399with option
400.Fl p
401and
402.Fl F
403to
404.Dq preen
405all the disks of minor inconsistencies resulting
406from the last system shutdown.
407If this fails, then checks/repairs of serious inconsistencies
408caused by hardware or software failure will be performed
409in the background at the end of the booting process.
410If
411.Cm autoboot
412is not set, when going from single-user to multi-user mode for example,
413the script does not do anything.
414.Pp
415The
416.Pa /etc/rc.d/local
417script can execute scripts from multiple
418.Nm rc.d/
419directories.
420The default location includes
421.Pa /usr/local/etc/rc.d/ ,
422but these may be overridden with the
423.Va local_startup
424.Xr rc.conf 5
425variable.
426.Pp
427The
428.Pa /etc/rc.d/serial
429script is used to set any special configurations for serial devices.
430.Pp
431The
432.Nm rc.firewall
433script is used to configure rules for the kernel based firewall
434service.
435It has several possible options:
436.Pp
437.Bl -tag -width ".Ar filename" -compact -offset indent
438.It Cm open
439will allow anyone in
440.It Cm client
441will try to protect just this machine
442.It Cm simple
443will try to protect a whole network
444.It Cm closed
445totally disables IP services except via
446.Pa lo0
447interface
448.It Cm UNKNOWN
449disables the loading of firewall rules
450.It Ar filename
451will load the rules in the given filename (full path required).
452.El
453.Pp
454The
455.Pa /etc/rc.d/atm*
456scripts are used to configure ATM network interfaces.
457The interfaces are configured in three passes.
458The first pass performs the initial interface configuration.
459The second pass completes the interface configuration and defines PVCs and
460permanent ATMARP entries.
461The third pass starts any ATM daemons.
462.Pp
463Most daemons, including network related daemons, have their own script in
464.Pa /etc/rc.d/ ,
465which can be used to start, stop, and check the status of the service.
466.Pp
467Any architecture specific scripts, such as
468.Pa /etc/rc.d/apm
469for example, specifically check that they are on that architecture
470before starting the daemon.
471.Pp
472Following tradition, all startup files reside in
473.Pa /etc .
474.Sh FILES
475.Bl -tag -compact -width Pa
476.It Pa /etc/rc
477.It Pa /etc/rc.conf
478.It Pa /etc/rc.conf.local
479.It Pa /etc/rc.d/
480.It Pa /etc/rc.firewall
481.It Pa /etc/rc.local
482.It Pa /etc/rc.shutdown
483.It Pa /etc/rc.subr
484.It Pa /var/run/dmesg.boot
485.Xr dmesg 8
486results soon after the
487.Nm
488process begins.
489Useful when
490.Xr dmesg 8
491buffer in the kernel no longer has this information.
492.El
493.Sh EXAMPLES
494The following is a minimal
495.Nm rc.d/
496style script.
497Most scripts require little more than the following.
498.Bd -literal -offset indent
499#!/bin/sh
500#
501
502# PROVIDE: foo
503# REQUIRE: bar_service_required_to_precede_foo
504
505\&. /etc/rc.subr
506
507name="foo"
508rcvar=foo_enable
509command="/usr/local/bin/foo"
510
511load_rc_config $name
512run_rc_command "$1"
513.Ed
514.Pp
515Certain scripts may want to provide enhanced functionality.
516The user may access this functionality through additional commands.
517The script may list and define as many commands at it needs.
518.Bd -literal -offset indent
519#!/bin/sh
520#
521
522# PROVIDE: foo
523# REQUIRE: bar_service_required_to_precede_foo
524# BEFORE:  baz_service_requiring_foo_to_precede_it
525
526\&. /etc/rc.subr
527
528name="foo"
529rcvar=foo_enable
530command="/usr/local/bin/foo"
531extra_commands="nop hello"
532hello_cmd="echo Hello World."
533nop_cmd="do_nop"
534
535do_nop()
536{
537	echo "I do nothing."
538}
539
540load_rc_config $name
541run_rc_command "$1"
542.Ed
543.Pp
544As all processes are killed by
545.Xr init 8
546at shutdown, the explicit
547.Xr kill 1
548is unnecessary, but is often included.
549.Sh SEE ALSO
550.Xr kill 1 ,
551.Xr rc.conf 5 ,
552.Xr init 8 ,
553.Xr rc.subr 8 ,
554.Xr rcorder 8 ,
555.Xr reboot 8 ,
556.Xr savecore 8
557.Sh HISTORY
558The
559.Nm
560utility appeared in
561.Bx 4.0 .
562