Finit -- A reimplementation of the EeePC SysV init replacement "fastinit"
=========================================================================

Finit is a reimplementation of the EeePC "fastinit" program based on its
system calls with gaps filled with frog DNA.

Finit's original purpose was to build upon the general workings of the
EeePC fastinit and improve/optimize it for Xandros or alternative
distributions running on the Eeepc.  However, focus has now shifted to
small embedded Linux systems and headless miniature servers with a need
for extremely fast boot.

Nevertheless, finit comes in three flavors:

o finit-org is a replica of the Asus fastinit,
o finit-mod is an improved drop-in replacement for fastinit, and
o finit is a generic replacement for other systems.

Finit-mod and finit (previously finit-alt) were much improved with
patches from Metalshark.

See the GitHub project's Wiki at https://github.com/troglobit/finit, or
the original author's home page at http://helllabs.org/finit/ for more
information.


Usage scenarios
---------------

1. Provide an extremely fine tuned and fast boot on embedded systems or
   Linux distributions for the EeePC or other netbooks. (finit)

2. Replace the original Eeepc 702 fastinit (finit-mod)

3. Provide a reverse engineered document of the original EeePC fastinit
   implementation. (finit-org)

Finit is distribution-specific.  Currently it generates a finit-mdv
executable for Mandriva 2008/2008.1 systems.  Smurfy ported it to
eeeXubuntu, and parts of his port have been merged to finit.


Finit features
--------------

Finit reads configuration information from /etc/finit.conf. See the
source code for available options.


Rebooting and halting
---------------------

Finit handles SIGUSR1 and SIGUSR2 for reboot and halt, and listens to
/dev/initctl so standard Linux reboot and halt commands should also
work.


Debugging
---------

Add finit_debug to the kernel parameter line to enable trace messages
and to run a shell after the X server.