Files
finit/contrib/debian

HowTo: Finit on Debian GNU/Linux

HowTo use Finit to boot a Debian GNU/Linux system. It is assumed that the user has already installed a compiler, C library header files, and other tools needed to build a GNU configure based project. I.e., at the very least:

root@debian:~# apt install build-essential

Like the Alpine HowTo, you need to install libuEv and libite, but since this is Debian — which takes infinite care of its users ♥ ♥ ♥ we don't need to worry about pkg-config, except for having it installed so it can locate the uEv and lite libraries.

With Debian everything just works!™

... just make sure to install the following, so ifup and other basic tools pre-systemd work as intended.

root@debian:~# apt install initscripts console-setup

The following script can then be used to configure, build, install and set up your system to run Finit:

user@debian:~/finit$ contrib/debian/build.sh

However, since /sbin/init already exists on your system the script creates another entry in your GRUB config, in /etc/grub.d/40_custom, where init=/sbin/finit is added to your kernel line.

Before rebooting, check the default /etc/finit.conf and /etc/finit.d/*.conf files. The build + install script above provides a few sample .conf files. See initctl list after boot for a list of enabled and available services.

You can also use a standard /etc/rc.local for one-shot tasks and initialization like keyboard language etc.

Have fun!
/Joachim ツ