Service Options =============== The `run`, `task`, `tty`, `service` and `sysv` blocks take settings as keys. This section lists them with their limitations. The name of a service, shown by the `initctl` tool, is the block title. It defaults to the basename of the executable if the title is omitted: service sshd { command = "/usr/sbin/sshd -D" } For multiple instances of a service, with the same name, add an identifier after a colon to prevent Finit from replacing previous instances: service ssdp:eth1 { command = "ssdpd eth1" } service ssdp:eth2 { command = "ssdpd eth2" } The [`initctl`](../initctl.md) tool will list these two services as: - ssdp:eth1 - ssdp:eth2 Conflicting services that must be prevented from starting, use the `conflicts` key: service udevd { command = "udevd" } run mdev { runlevel = "S" conflicts = { "udevd" } command = "mdev -s" } The list may name several, and an instance is named the same way it is declared: service abc:1 { command = "abc 1" } service abc:2 { command = "abc 2" } service cde { conflicts = { "abc:1", "abc:2" } command = "cde" } If a service should not be automatically started, set `manual-start`. It can then be started at any time with `initctl start `: service lldpd { manual-start = true command = "/usr/sbin/lldpd -d" } Other run/task/service settings are: * `capabilities` -- see the [Linux Capabilities](capabilities.md) section * `cgroup NAME {}` -- see the [Cgroups](cgroups.md) section * `envfile` -- see the [Service Environment](service-env.md) section * `log {}` -- see [Redirecting Output](logging.md#redirecting-output) * `tty` -- see [Controlling TTY](tty.md#controlling-tty-for-services) * `notify` -- see [Service Synchronization](service-sync.md) * `if` -- see [Conditional Execution](services.md#conditional-execution) * `type = "forking"` -- see description of the [service](services.md) block * a leading `-` on `command` -- see [Conditional Loading](services.md#conditional-loading) Command Candidates ------------------ The `command` setting may list several candidates for the same service, in which case Finit starts the first one it finds: service udevd { command = { "/lib/systemd/systemd-udevd", "-udevd" } } A candidate that is not installed is skipped without a warning, that is the point of listing more than one. The leading `-` is read from the candidate that wins, or from the last one when none are found, so a block with a single command behaves as it always has. The candidates are alternative spellings of one service, not a fallback for a service that fails to start. Finit chooses when the .conf file is read and does not revisit the choice. A [`tty`](tty.md) block takes the same list, where the candidates are the getty to run: tty ttyAMA0 { command = { "/sbin/agetty -L ttyAMA0 115200 vt100", "/sbin/getty -L 115200 /dev/ttyAMA0 vt100" } } Provided Conditions ------------------- A service always asserts `pid/` for itself, named after the block title. `provides` names conditions it asserts in addition to that one: service syslogd:udev { if = "udevd" provides = "pid/syslogd" command = "syslogd -F" } This is what lets variants of one service, picked apart by [`if`](services.md#conditional-execution), share the barrier that everything downstream waits for. Each variant has its own title, so each is its own service to `initctl`, while the condition they publish stays the same. Any namespace works, `pid/`, `usr/`, `service/`, since the point is publishing a name existing configuration already waits on. A value without a namespace separator is not a condition and is rejected. The list holds at most four. A provided condition is asserted and cleared with the service, exactly like its own, so stopping the provider clears the barrier. Two services cannot supply the same condition. The second claim is refused, with the owner named: finit.conf: second: provides condition already registered by service first, ignoring The service itself still registers and runs, only the claim is dropped. Which one is "first" is .conf load order, so it follows the file names, see [Files & Layout](files.md). A real identity outranks a claim on it. `provides = "pid/sshd"` in a system that also runs a service titled `sshd` loses to that service, because `pid/` is how Finit tracks the service itself. `initctl cond dump` names the owner of every condition, which for a provided one is the service that claimed it: $ initctl cond dump PID IDENT STATUS CONDITION 1234 syslogd:udev on 1234 syslogd:udev on Duplicate Titles ---------------- The title is the service identity, so two blocks sharing a title in one file are two declarations of one service. The parser underneath merges them without a word, leaving a single service holding a mix of both, so Finit rejects the file and names the title: /etc/finit.d/hotplug.conf:12: found duplicate title 'udevd' Nothing from a rejected file is loaded and the rest of the configuration is unaffected. The same title in *another* file is fine. That is how a system .conf is overridden, the later file wins, see [Files & Layout](files.md). Two shapes need a single identity and used to be written as repeated declarations. One is a service with several candidate binaries, which is now a [command list](#command-candidates). The other is a service gated differently per platform, e.g. a syslog daemon waiting for whichever hotplug daemon the system happens to have. For that one, give each variant its own file, or keep them as one-liners in the line-based format, which has no titles. The [migration guide](migration.md) works through it. Restarting ---------- Services are automatically started, restarted, and stopped, depending on the configuration and conditions. Within the confines of that the following settings are available: * `restart-max = NUM` -- number of times Finit tries to restart a crashing service, default: 10. When this limit is reached the service is marked *crashed* and must be restarted manually with `initctl restart NAME` * `restart-sec = SEC` -- number of seconds before Finit tries to restart a crashing service. The default is 2 seconds for the first half of `restart-max` attempts, then a back-off to 5 seconds -- with the default `restart-max` that is the first five retries. The greater of this configured value and the back-off is used * `restart = "always"` -- no upper limit on the number of times Finit tries to restart a crashing service * `restart = "never"` -- do not restart on failures. `false` is accepted as a synonym, and `true` selects the default policy * `respawn = true` -- bypasses the `restart` mechanism completely, allowing endless restarts. Exiting is treated as normal work rather than failure, so the service is restarted at once instead of being counted and delayed. This is how a `tty` behaves; it is not what `service` was designed for, so it is not the default * `remain-after-exit = true` -- for `run` and `task` only. Prevents the task from re-running on runlevel re-entry and ensures the `exec-stop-post` script runs when the task is explicitly stopped or leaves its valid runlevels. This is systemd's `RemainAfterExit=`. See [Task and Run](task-and-run.md) for more details * `oncrash = "reboot"` -- when all retries have failed, and the service has *crashed*, the system is rebooted * `oncrash = "script"` -- similarly, but instead of rebooting, call the `exec-stop-post` script with exit code `crashed`, see below Service directories ------------------- Five settings ask Finit to create a directory for the service before it starts, owned by its `user` and `group`, mode 0755. The value is a directory name, resolved under a fixed base -- absolute paths and `..` are refused: | Setting | Base | Environment variable | |---|---|---| | `runtime-dir` | `/run` | `RUNTIME_DIRECTORY` | | `state-dir` | `/var/lib` | `STATE_DIRECTORY` | | `cache-dir` | `/var/cache` | `CACHE_DIRECTORY` | | `logs-dir` | `/var/log` | `LOGS_DIRECTORY` | | `config-dir` | `/etc` | `CONFIGURATION_DIRECTORY` | Each resolved path is exported to the process environment under the listed name, the same names systemd uses for `RuntimeDirectory=` and friends. As in systemd, `config-dir` is the odd one out: it is created but never chowned. Each takes a matching `-mode`, e.g. `runtime-dir-mode = 0700`, default 0755. Modes are octal, with the leading zero. The mode of the named directory is locked down again on every start. Its contents are left alone as long as the owner is right; if the owner has drifted, everything under it is chowned back. The runtime directory is removed again when the service stops, after any `exec-stop-post` script has run; `/run` is a tmpfs so it would not survive a reboot anyway. The other four persist. A completed `run` or `task` counts as stopped, unless `remain-after-exit` keeps it alive until stopped for real. `runtime-dir-preserve` adjusts this, same values as systemd's `RuntimeDirectoryPreserve=`: * `"no"` -- removed when the service stops, the default * `"restart"` -- kept across restarts, removed on a real stop * `"yes"` -- never removed This is what lets a service drop privileges and still create, and later touch, its own PID file: service ntpd { user = "ntp" group = "ntp" runtime-dir = "ntpd" pidfile = "/run/ntpd/ntpd.pid" command = "/usr/sbin/ntpd -n -p /run/ntpd/ntpd.pid" } These settings exist only in the block format. Stopping and reloading ---------------------- When stopping a service, either manually or when moving to another runlevel, Finit starts by sending `SIGTERM` to let the process shut down gracefully. If it has not been collected within 3 seconds, `SIGKILL` follows. Both ends of that are configurable: * `stop-signal = "SIGPWR"` -- send this instead of `SIGTERM` * `stop-timeout = 10` -- seconds to wait before `SIGKILL`, 1-300 Some services need more than a signal: * `exec-stop = "script [args]"` -- run instead of sending the stop signal, and instead of `stop` for `sysv` * `exec-reload = "script [args]"` -- run instead of sending `SIGHUP`. Like systemd, Finit sets `$MAINPID` as a convenience to scripts, which in effect also allows `exec-reload = "kill -HUP $MAINPID"` If a daemon cannot be reloaded with a signal at all, say so and Finit restarts it instead: service dropbear { reload-signal = "none" command = "/usr/sbin/dropbear -R -F" } `SIGHUP` is the default and the only other accepted value, with or without the `SIG` prefix and in any case. Scripts ------- Services, including the `sysv` variant, support six lifecycle scripts: * `exec-start-pre` -- called before the sysv/service is started * `exec-start-ready` -- called when the sysv/service is ready * `exec-stop` -- called instead of the stop signal * `exec-stop-post` -- called after the sysv/service has stopped * `exec-reload` -- called instead of `SIGHUP` * `exec-cleanup` -- called when run/task/sysv/service is removed Each takes a matching `-timeout`, in seconds, 0-3600, after which Finit kills the script. It defaults to the `stop-timeout` value and can be disabled by setting it to zero: service foo { exec-start-pre = "/etc/foo/pre.sh" exec-start-pre-timeout = 10 command = "/usr/sbin/foo" } These scripts run as the same user and group as the service itself, with any `envfile` sourced. They are executed from the `$HOME` of the given user. The scripts are not called with any argument, but get a set of environment variables: * `SERVICE_IDENT=foo:1` * `SERVICE_NAME=foo` * `SERVICE_ID=1` The `exec-stop-post` script is called with an additional set of environment variables. Yes, the text is correct, the naming was an accident: - `EXIT_CODE=[exited,signal,crashed]`: normal exit, signaled, or crashed - `EXIT_STATUS=[num,SIGNAME]`: set to one of exit status code from the program, if it exited normally, or the signal name (`HUP`, `TERM`, etc.) if it exited due to signal When a run/task/sysv/service is removed (disable + reload) it is first stopped and then removed from the runlevel. The `exec-stop-post` script always runs when the process has stopped, and `exec-cleanup` runs when the block has been removed from the runlevel. > [!IMPORTANT] > These script actions are intended for setup, cleanup, and readiness > notification. A script that outlives its timeout is killed, so pick > one that suits the work, or set it to zero to opt out and take > responsibility for the script terminating.