2.4.1 The init program
Like all Unices, Debian boots up by executing the program init.
The configuration file for init (which is
/etc/inittab) specifies that the first script to be executed
should be /etc/init.d/rcS.
What happens next depends on whether the sysv-rc package or the
file-rc package is installed. The following assumes that the
sysv-rc package is installed. (file-rc contains its
own /etc/init.d/rcS script and uses a file instead of symlinks in
rc directories to control which services are started in which runlevels.)
The /etc/init.d/rcS file from the sysv-rc package
runs all of the scripts in /etc/rcS.d/ in order to perform
initialization such as checking and mounting file systems, loading modules,
starting the network services, setting the clock, and so on. Then, for
compatibility, it also runs all the files (except those with a `.' in the
filename) in /etc/rc.boot/. The latter directory is reserved for
system administrator use, and using it is deprecated. See System initialization, Section 9.1 and
System run
levels and init.d scripts in the Debian Policy Manual for more info.
Debian does not use a BSD-style rc.local directory.
