<HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >Special configuration in /etc/inittab</TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.63 "><LINK REL="HOME" TITLE="The Linux System Administrator's Guide" HREF="index.html"><LINK REL="UP" TITLE="init" HREF="init.html"><LINK REL="PREVIOUS" TITLE="Run levels" HREF="x2111.html"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE="Booting in single user mode" HREF="x2179.html"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="SECT1" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF" ><DIV CLASS="NAVHEADER" ><TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TH COLSPAN="3" ALIGN="center" >The Linux System Administrator's Guide: Version 0.7</TH ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="x2111.html" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" >Chapter 9. <B CLASS="COMMAND" >init</B ></TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="x2179.html" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECT1" ><H1 CLASS="SECT1" ><A NAME="AEN2151" >9.4. Special configuration in <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >/etc/inittab</TT ></A ></H1 ><P >The <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >/etc/inittab</TT > has some special features that allow <B CLASS="COMMAND" >init</B > to react to special circumstances. These special features are marked by special keywords in the third field. Some examples: <DIV CLASS="GLOSSLIST" ><DL ><DT ><B ><TT CLASS="LITERAL" >powerwait</TT ></B ></DT ><DD ><P > Allows <B CLASS="COMMAND" >init</B > to shut the system down, when the power fails. This assumes the use of a UPS, and software that watches the UPS and informs <B CLASS="COMMAND" >init</B > that the power is off. </P ></DD ><DT ><B ><TT CLASS="LITERAL" >ctrlaltdel</TT ></B ></DT ><DD ><P > Allows <B CLASS="COMMAND" >init</B > to reboot the system, when the user presses ctrl-alt-del on the console keyboard. Note that the system administrator can configure the reaction to ctrl-alt-del to be something else instead, e.g., to be ignored, if the system is in a public location. (Or to start <B CLASS="COMMAND" >nethack</B >.) </P ></DD ><DT ><B ><TT CLASS="LITERAL" >sysinit</TT ></B ></DT ><DD ><P > Command to be run when the system is booted. This command usually cleans up <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >/tmp</TT >, for example. </P ></DD ></DL ></DIV > The list above is not exhaustive. See your <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >inittab</TT > manual page for all possibilities, and for details on how to use the above ones. </P ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="x2111.html" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.html" >Home</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="x2179.html" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" >Run levels</TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="init.html" >Up</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >Booting in single user mode</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >