Add <~cond> condition modifier for tightly coupled services

Conditions in Finit are dependencies: if A is asserted, service B is
allowed to run.  When A goes through FLUX (e.g., upstream reloads),
dependents are PAUSED and then simply resumed when the condition is
reasserted -- this is the correct behavior for barrier-style deps
like <pid/syslogd>.

However, some setups have tightly coupled services where dependents
must be reloaded/restarted when an upstream service reloads, not just
resumed.  E.g., the FRR routing stack on Infix OS:

    netd <pid/mgmtd> ← zebra <!pid/netd> ← {staticd,ripd} <!pid/zebra>

When netd reloads (SIGHUP), zebra and its dependents must be restarted
to pick up the new configuration.

The new '~' condition prefix marks a dependency as flux-sensitive:

    service <!~pid/netd> name:zebra ...

When the upstream condition goes FLUX and returns to ON, the dependent
is reloaded (SIGHUP) or restarted (noreload '!') instead of merely
resumed.  Transitivity follows naturally through the condition chain.

Closes #416
Closes #476

Signed-off-by: Joachim Wiberg <troglobit@gmail.com>
This commit is contained in:
Joachim Wiberg committed 2026-02-22 15:51:25 +01:00
1 parent 4bb2c33859
commit 03a14bcaa5
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+33 -4
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@@ -14,11 +14,11 @@ specified separated by comma. Multiple conditions are logically AND'ed
during evaluation, i.e. all conditions must be satisfied in order for a
service to run.
A special syntax, using a leading `!` in run/task/service conditions,
denote if a:
Two special prefixes can be used inside the angle brackets:
- service does not support `SIGHUP`
- run/task should not block runlevel changes (i.e., bootstrap)
- `!` -- service does not support `SIGHUP` (noreload), or run/task
should not block runlevel changes (i.e., bootstrap)
- `~` -- propagate reload from this dependency, see below
Finit guarantees by default that all run/tasks run (at least) once
per runlevel. For most tasks this is a good default, for example
@@ -53,6 +53,30 @@ moving to the next runlevel after bootstrap, so we set `<!>`:
task [S0123456789] <!sys/pwr/fail> name:pwrfail initctl poweroff -- Power failure, shutting down
Propagating Reload in Dependencies
-----------------------------------
By default, when a service reloads during `initctl reload`, dependent
services are paused (`SIGSTOP`) and simply resumed (`SIGCONT`) when the
condition is reasserted. This is correct for barrier-style dependencies
like `<pid/syslogd>`, where dependents just need syslogd running and do
not care if it reloads its config.
For services that need to react when their upstream reloads, the `~`
prefix propagates the reload from the dependency:
service <pid/svc_a> name:svc_b /sbin/svc_b -- Needs A (barrier)
service <!~pid/svc_b> name:svc_c /sbin/svc_c -- Propagate reload from B
Here, `<~pid/svc_b>` means: propagate a reload of `svc_b` to `svc_c`.
When `svc_b` reloads, `svc_c` will be restarted (because of `!`,
noreload) instead of merely resumed. If `svc_c` supported `SIGHUP`
(no `!` prefix), it would be sent `SIGHUP` instead.
This is similar to systemd's `PropagatesReloadTo=` directive, but
declared on the consumer side rather than the provider side.
Triggering
----------
@@ -281,6 +305,11 @@ This STOP/CONT handling minimizes the number of unnecessary service
restarts that would otherwise occur because a depending service was sent
`SIGHUP` for example.
Services with the `~` prefix are an exception to this rule: when their
conditions return to `on` after being in `flux`, the reload is propagated
-- the service is reloaded (SIGHUP) or restarted (noreload `!`) instead
of simply being resumed.
Therefore, any plugin that supplies Finit with conditions must ensure
that their state is updated after each reconfiguration. This can be
done by binding to the `HOOK_SVC_RECONF` hook. For an example of how
+8
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@@ -47,6 +47,14 @@ waits for another service, `zebra`, to have created its PID file in
*all* files in `/var/run`, for each file named `*.pid`, or `*/pid`,
Finit opens it and find the matching `NAME:ID` using the PID.
The condition can be prefixed with `!` and/or `~`:
- `<!pid/zebra>` -- `ospfd` does not support `SIGHUP` (noreload)
- `<~pid/zebra>` -- propagate reload from `zebra` to `ospfd`
- `<!~pid/zebra>` -- both: noreload and propagate reload
For details, see the [Finit Conditions](../conditions.md) document.
Some services do not maintain a PID file and rather than patching each
application Finit provides a workaround. A `pid` keyword can be set
to have Finit automatically create (when starting) and later remove