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.TH DINIT-SERVICE "5" "June 2019" "Dinit 0.5.2" "Dinit \- service management system"
.SH NAME
Dinit service description files
.\"
.SH SYNOPSIS
.\"
.ft CR
/etc/dinit.d/\fIservice-name\fR, $HOME/dinit.d/\fIservice-name\fR
.ft
.\"
.SH DESCRIPTION
.\"
The service description files for \fBDinit\fR each describe a service. The name
of the file corresponds to the name of the service it describes. 
.LP
Service description files specify the various attributes of a service. A
service description file is named after the service it represents, and is
a plain-text file with simple key-value format. The description files are
located in a service description directory; by default, the system process
searches \fI/etc/dinit.d\fR, \fI/usr/local/lib/dinit.d\fR and
\fI/lib/dinit.d\fR, while a user process searches \fI$HOME/dinit.d\fR.
.LP
All services have a \fItype\fR and a set of \fIdependencies\fR. Service
types are discussed in the following subsection. If a service depends on
another service, then starting the first service causes the second to start
also (and the second service must complete its startup before the first
is considered started). Similarly, if one service depends on another which
becomes stopped, the first service must also stop.
.\"
.SS SERVICE TYPES
.\"
There are four basic types of service:
.IP \(bu
\fBProcess\fR services. This kind of service runs as a single process; starting
the service simply requires starting the process; stopping the service is
accomplished by stopping the process (via sending it a signal).
.IP \(bu
\fBBgprocess\fR services ("background process" services). This kind of
service is similar to a regular process service, but the process daemonizes
or otherwise forks from the original process which starts it, and the
process ID is written to a file. Dinit can read the process ID from the
file and, if it is running as the system init process, can supervise it.
.IP \(bu
\fBScripted\fR services are services which are started and stopped by a
command (which need not actually be a script, despite the name). They can
not be supervised.
.IP \(bu
\fBInternal\fR services do not run as an external process at all. They can
be started and stopped without any external action. They are useful for
grouping other services (via service dependencies).
.\"
.SS SERVICE PROPERTIES
.\"
This section described the various service properties that can be specified
in a service description file. Each line of the file can specify a single
property value, expressed as "\fIproperty-name\fR = \fIvalue\fR". Comments
begin with a hash mark (#) and extend to the end of the line (they must be
separated from setting values by at least one whitespace character). Values
are interpreted literally, except that:
.\"
.IP \(bu
White space (comprised of spaces, tabs, etc) is collapsed to a single space.
.IP \(bu
Double quotes (") can be used around all or part of a property value, to
prevent whitespace collapse and prevent interpretation of other special
characters (such as "#") inside the quotes. The quote characters are not
considered part of the parameter value.
.IP \(bu
A backslash (\\) can be used to escape the next character, causing it to
lose any special meaning and become part of the property value. A double
backslash (\\\\) is collapsed to a single backslash within the parameter
value.
.LP
The following properties can be specified:
.TP
\fBtype\fR = {process | bgprocess | scripted | internal}
Specifies the service type.
.TP
\fBcommand\fR = \fIcommand-string\fR
Specifies the command, including command-line arguments, for starting the
process. Applies only to \fBprocess\fR, \fBbgprocess\fR and \fBscripted\fR
services.
.TP
\fBstop\-command\fR = \fIcommand-string\fR
Specifies the command to stop the service. Applicable only to \fBscripted\fR
services.
.TP
\fBworking-dir\fR = \fIdirectory\fR
Specifies the working directory for this service. For a scripted service, this
affects both the start command and the stop command.
.TP
\fBrun\-as\fR = \fIuser-id\fR
Specifies which user to run the process(es) for this service as. The group id
for the process will also be set to the primary group of the specified user.
.TP
\fBrestart\fR = {yes | true | no | false}
Indicates whether the service should automatically restart if it stops for
any reason (including unexpected process termination, service dependency
stopping, or user-initiated service stop).
.TP
\fBsmooth\-recovery\fR = {yes | true | no | false}
Applies only to \fBprocess\fR and \fBbgprocess\fR services. When set true/yes,
an automatic process restart can be performed without first stopping any
dependent services. This setting is meaningless if the \fBrestart\fR setting
is set to false.
.TP
\fBrestart\-delay\fR = \fIXXX.YYYY\fR
Specifies the minimum time between automatic restarts. Enforcing a sensible
minimum prevents Dinit from consuming a large number of process cycles in
case a process continuously fails immediately after it is started. The
default is 0.2 (200 milliseconds).
.TP
\fBrestart\-limit\-interval\fR = \fIXXX.YYYY\fR
Sets the interval, in seconds, over which restarts are limited. If a process
automatically restarts more than a certain number of times (specified by the
\fBrestart-limit-count\fR setting) in this time interval, it will not restart
again. The default value is 10 seconds.
.TP
\fBrestart\-limit\-count\fR = \fINNN\fR
Specifies the maximum number of times that a service can automatically restart
over the interval specified by \fBrestart\-limit\-interval\fR. Specify a value
of 0 to disable the restart limit.
.TP
\fBstart\-timeout\fR = \fIXXX.YYY\fR
Specifies the time in seconds allowed for the service to start. If the
service takes longer than this, its process group is sent a SIGINT signal
and enters the "stopping" state (this may be subject to a stop timeout, as
specified via \fBstop\-timeout\fR, after which the process group will be
terminated via SIGKILL). The timeout period begins only when all dependencies
have been stopped. The default timeout is 60 seconds. Specify a value of 0 to
allow unlimited start time.
.TP
\fBstop\-timeout\fR = \fIXXX.YYY\fR
Specifies the time in seconds allowed for the service to stop. If the
service takes longer than this, its process group is sent a SIGKILL signal
which should cause it to terminate immediately. The timeout period begins
only when all dependent services have already stopped. The default
timeout is 10 seconds. Specify a value of 0 to allow unlimited stop time.
.TP
\fBpid\-file\fR = \fIpath-to-file\fR
For \fBbgprocess\fR type services only; specifies the path of the file where
daemon will write its process ID before detaching. Dinit will read the
contents of this file when starting the service, once the initial process
exits, will supervise the process with the discovered process ID, and may
send signals to the process ID to stop the service; if Dinit runs as a
privileged user the path should therefore not be writable by unprivileged
users.
.TP
\fBdepends\-on\fR = \fIservice-name\fR
This service depends on the named service. Starting this service will start
the named service; the command to start this service will not be executed
until the named service has started. If the named service is stopped then
this service will also be stopped.
.TP
\fBdepends\-ms\fR = \fIservice-name\fR
This service has a "milestone" dependency on the named service. Starting this
service will start the named service; this service will not start until the
named service has started, and will fail to start if the named service does
not start. Once the named service reaches the started state, however, the
dependency is effectively dropped until this service is next started.
.TP
\fBwaits\-for\fR = \fIservice-name\fR
When this service is started, wait for the named service to finish starting
(or to fail starting) before commencing the start procedure for this service.
Starting this service will automatically start the named service. If the
named service fails to start, this service will start as usual (subject to
other dependencies being met).
.TP
\fBwaits\-for.d\fR = \fIdirectory-path\fR
For each file name in \fIdirectory-path\fR which does not begin with a dot,
add a \fBwaits-for\fR dependency to the service with the same name. Note that
contents of files in the specified directory are not significant; expected
usage is to have symbolic links to the associated service description files,
but this is not required. Failure to read the directory contents, or to find
any of the services named within, is not considered fatal.

The directory path, if not absolute, is relative to the directory containing
the service description file.
.TP
\fBchain-to\fR = \fIservice-name\fR
When this service completes successfully (i.e. starts and then stops), the
named service should be started. Note that the named service is not loaded
until that time; naming an invalid service will not cause this service to
fail to load.

This can be used for a service that supplies an interactive "recovery mode"
for another service; once the user exits the recovery shell, the primary
service (as named via this setting) will then start. It also supports
multi-stage system startup where later service description files reside on
a separate filesystem that is mounted during the first stage; such service
descriptions will not be found at initial start, and so cannot be started
directly, but can be chained via this directive.
.TP
\fBsocket\-listen\fR = \fIsocket-path\fR
Pre-open a socket for the service and pass it to the service using the
\fBsystemd\fR activation protocol. This by itself does not give so called
"socket activation", but does allow that any process trying to connect to the
specified socket will be able to do so, even before the service is properly
prepared to accept connections.
.TP
\fBsocket\-permissions\fR = \fIoctal-permissions-mask\fR
Gives the permissions for the socket specified using \fBsocket-listen\fR.
Normally this will be 600 (user access only), 660 (user and group
access), or 666 (all users). The default is 666.
.TP
\fBsocket\-uid\fR = {\fInumeric-user-id\fR | \fIusername\fR}
Specifies the user that should own the activation socket. If
\fBsocket\-uid\fR is specified without also specifying \fBsocket-gid\fR, then
the socket group is the primary group of the specified user (as found in the
system user database, normally \fI/etc/passwd\fR). If the socket owner is not
specified, the socket will be owned by the user id of the Dinit process.
.TP
\fBsocket\-gid\fR = {\fInumeric-group-id\fR | \fIgroup-name\fR}
Specifies the group of the activation socket. See discussion of
\fBsocket\-uid\fR.
.TP
\fBterm\-signal\fR = {HUP | INT | QUIT | USR1 | USR2 | KILL}
Specifies an additional signal to send to the process when requesting it
to terminate (applies to 'process' services only). SIGTERM is always
sent along with the specified signal, unless the \fBno\-sigterm\fR option is
specified via the \fBoptions\fR parameter.
.TP
\fBready\-notification\fR = {\fBpipefd:\fR\fIfd-number\fR | \fBpipevar:\fR\fIenv-var-name\fR}
Specifies the mechanism, if any, by which a process service will notify that it is ready
(successfully started). If not specified, a process service is considered started as soon as it
has begun execution. The two options are:
.RS
.IP \(bu
\fBpipefd:\fR\fIfd-number\fR \(em the service will write a message to the specified file descriptor,
which \fBdinit\fR sets up as the write end of a pipe before execution. This mechanism is compatible
with the S6 supervision suite.
.IP \(bu
\fBpipevar:\fR\fIenv-var-name\fR \(em the service will write a message to file descriptor identified
using the contents of the specified environment variable, which will be set by \fBdinit\fR before
execution to a file descriptor (chosen arbitrarily) attached to the write end of a pipe.
.RE
.TP
\fBlogfile\fR = \fIlog-file-path\fR
Specifies the log file for the service. Output from the service process
will go this file.
.TP
\fBoptions\fR = \fIoption\fR...
Specifies various options for this service. See the \fBOPTIONS\fR section. This
directive can be specified multiple times to set additional options.
.TP
\fBload-options\fR = \fIload_option\fR...
Specifies options for interpreting other settings when loading this service
description. Currently there is only one available option, \fBsub-vars\fR,
which specifies that command line arguments in the form of \fB$NAME\fR should
be replaced with the contents of the environment variable with the specified
name. Note that no word-splitting is performed and the variable value always
becomes a single argument; if the variable is not defined, it is replaced with
an empty (zero-length) argument.
.TP
\fBinittab-id\fR = \fIid-string\fR
When this service is started, if this setting (or the \fBinittab-line\fR setting) has a
specified value, an entry will be created in the system "utmp" database which tracks
processes and logged-in users. Typically this database is used by the "who" command to
list logged-in users. The entry will be cleared when the service terminates.

The \fBinittab-id\fR setting specifies the "inittab id" to be written in the entry for
the process. The value is normally quite meaningless. However, it should be distinct
(or unset) for separate processes. It is typically limited to a very short length.

The "utmp" database is mostly a historical artifact. Access to it on some systems is
prone to denial-of-service by unprivileged users. It is therefore recommended that this
setting not be used. However, "who" and similar utilities may not work correctly without
this setting (or \fBinittab-line\fR) enabled appropriately.

This setting has no effect if Dinit was not built with support for writing to the "utmp"
database.
.TP
\fBinittab-line\fR = \fItty-name-string\fR
This specifies the tty line that will be written to the "utmp" database when this service
is started. Normally, for a terminal login service, it would match the terminal device name
on which the login process runs, without the "/dev/" prefix.

See the description of the \fBinittab-id\fR setting for details.
.\"
.SS OPTIONS
.\"
These options are specified via the \fBoptions\fR parameter. 
.\"
.TP
\fBno\-sigterm\fR
Specifies that the TERM signal should not be send to the process to terminate
it. (Another signal can be specified using the \fBtermsignal\fR setting; if no
other signal is specified, no signal will be sent, which usually means that
the service will not terminate).
.TP
\fBruns\-on\-console\fR
Specifies that this service uses the console; its input and output should be
directed to the console (or precisely, to the device to which Dinit's standard
output stream is connected). A service running on the console prevents other
services from running on the console (they will queue for the console).

The \fIinterrupt\fR key (normally control-C) will be active for process / scripted
services that run on the console. Handling of an interrupt is determined by
the service process, but typically will cause it to terminate.
.TP
\fBstarts\-on\-console\fR
Specifies that this service uses the console during service startup. This is
implied by \fBruns-on-console\fR, but can be specified separately for services
that need the console while they start but not afterwards.

This setting is not applicable to regular \fBprocess\fR services, but can be
used for \fBscripted\fR and \fBbgprocess\fR services. It allows for
interrupting startup via the \fIinterrupt\fR key (normally control-C). This is
useful to allow filesystem checks to be interrupted/skipped.

This option is implied by \fBruns\-on\-console\fR, and is mutually exclusive
with \fBshares\-console\fR; setting this option, or setting \fBruns\-on\-console\fR,
unsets \fBshares\-console\fR.
.TP
\fBshares\-console\fR
Specifies that this service should be given access to the console (input and output
will be connected to the console), but that it should not exclusively hold the
console and not delay the start of services with \fBstarts\-on\-console\fR.

This is mutually exclusive with both \fBstarts\-on\-console\fR and \fBruns\-on\-console\fR;
setting this option unsets both those options.
.TP
\fBstarts-rwfs\fR
This service mounts the root filesystem read/write (or at least mounts the
normal writable filesystems for the system). This prompts Dinit to create its
control socket, if it has not already managed to do so.
.TP
\fBstarts-log\fR
This service starts the system log daemon. Dinit will begin logging via the
\fI/dev/log\fR socket.
.TP
\fBpass-cs-fd\fR
Pass an open Dinit control socket to the process when launching it (the
\fIDINIT_CS_FD\fR environment variable will be set to the file descriptor of
the socket). This allows the service to issue commands to Dinit even if the
regular control socket is not available yet.

Using this option has security implications! The service which receives the
control socket must close it before launching any untrusted processes. You
should not use this option unless the service is designed to receive a Dinit
control socket.
.TP
\fBstart-interruptible\fR
This service can have its startup interrupted (cancelled) if it becomes inactive
while still starting, by sending it the SIGINT signal. This is meaningful only
for \fBbgprocess\fR and \fBscripted\fR services.
.TP
\fBskippable\fR
For scripted services, indicates that if the service startup process terminates
via an interrupt signal (SIGINT), then the service should be considered started.
Note that if the interrupt was issued by Dinit to cancel startup, the service
will instead be considered stopped.
.TP
\fBsignal-process-only\fR
Signal the service process only, rather than its entire process group, whenever
sending it a signal for any reason.
.RE
.LP
The next section contains example service descriptions including some of the
parameters and options described above.
.\"
.SS EXAMPLES
.LP
Here is an example service description for the \fBmysql\fR database server.
It has a dependency on the \fBrcboot\fR service (not shown) which is
expected to have set up the system to a level suitable for basic operation.

.RS
.nf
.gcolor blue
.ft CR
# mysqld service
type = process
command = /usr/bin/mysqld --user=mysql
logfile = /var/log/mysqld.log
smooth-recovery = true
restart = false
depends-on = rcboot # Basic system services must be ready
.ft
.gcolor
.RE
.fi
.LP
Here is an examples for a filesystem check "service", run by a script
(\fI/etc/dinit.d/rootfscheck.sh\fR). The script may need to reboot the
system, but the control socket may not have been created, so it uses the
\fBpass-cs-fd\fR option to allow the \fBreboot\fR command to issue control
commands to Dinit. It runs on the console, so that output is visible and
the process can be interrupted using control-C, in which case the check is
skipped but dependent services continue to start.

.RS
.nf
.gcolor blue
.ft CR
# rootfscheck service
type = scripted
command = /etc/dinit.d/rootfscheck.sh
restart = false
options = starts-on-console pass-cs-fd
options = start-interruptible skippable
depends-on = early-filesystems  # /proc and /dev
depends-on = device-node-daemon
.ft
.gcolor
.fi
.RE

More examples are provided with the Dinit distribution.
.\"
.SH AUTHOR
Dinit, and this manual, were written by Davin McCall.