Reader small image

You're reading from  Mastering Embedded Linux Programming - Third Edition

Product typeBook
Published inMay 2021
PublisherPackt
ISBN-139781789530384
Edition3rd Edition
Right arrow
Authors (2):
Frank Vasquez
Frank Vasquez
author image
Frank Vasquez

Frank Vasquez is an independent software consultant specializing in consumer electronics. He has over a decade of experience designing and building embedded Linux systems. During that time, he has shipped numerous devices including a rackmount DSP audio server, a diver-held sonar camcorder, and a consumer IoT hotspot. Before his career as an embedded Linux engineer, Frank was a database kernel developer at IBM where he worked on DB2. He lives in Silicon Valley.
Read more about Frank Vasquez

Chris Simmonds
Chris Simmonds
author image
Chris Simmonds

Chris Simmonds is a software consultant and trainer living in southern England. He has almost two decades of experience in designing and building open-source embedded systems. He is the founder and chief consultant at 2net Ltd, which provides professional training and mentoring services in embedded Linux, Linux device drivers, and Android platform development. He has trained engineers at many of the biggest companies in the embedded world, including ARM, Qualcomm, Intel, Ericsson, and General Dynamics. He is a frequent presenter at open source and embedded conferences, including the Embedded Linux Conference and Embedded World.
Read more about Chris Simmonds

View More author details
Right arrow

BusyBox init

BusyBox has a minimal init program that uses a configuration file, /etc/inittab,
to define rules to start programs at bootup and to stop them at shutdown. Usually,
the actual work is done by shell scripts, which, by convention, are placed in the
/etc/init.d directory.

init begins by reading /etc/inittab. This contains a list of programs to run, one per line, with this format:

<id>::<action>:<program>

The role of these parameters is as follows:

  • id: This is the controlling terminal for the command.
  • action: This includes the conditions to run this command, as shown in the following list.
  • program: This is the program to run.

The actions are as follows:

  • sysinit: Runs the program when init starts before any of the other types
    of actions.
  • respawn: Runs the program and restarts it if it terminates. It is typically used to run a program as a daemon.
  • askfirst: This is the same as respawn, but it prints the message...
lock icon
The rest of the page is locked
Previous PageNext Page
You have been reading a chapter from
Mastering Embedded Linux Programming - Third Edition
Published in: May 2021Publisher: PacktISBN-13: 9781789530384

Authors (2)

author image
Frank Vasquez

Frank Vasquez is an independent software consultant specializing in consumer electronics. He has over a decade of experience designing and building embedded Linux systems. During that time, he has shipped numerous devices including a rackmount DSP audio server, a diver-held sonar camcorder, and a consumer IoT hotspot. Before his career as an embedded Linux engineer, Frank was a database kernel developer at IBM where he worked on DB2. He lives in Silicon Valley.
Read more about Frank Vasquez

author image
Chris Simmonds

Chris Simmonds is a software consultant and trainer living in southern England. He has almost two decades of experience in designing and building open-source embedded systems. He is the founder and chief consultant at 2net Ltd, which provides professional training and mentoring services in embedded Linux, Linux device drivers, and Android platform development. He has trained engineers at many of the biggest companies in the embedded world, including ARM, Qualcomm, Intel, Ericsson, and General Dynamics. He is a frequent presenter at open source and embedded conferences, including the Embedded Linux Conference and Embedded World.
Read more about Chris Simmonds