Comparison of init systems

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This article compares and contrasts init systems. Some of the init systems compared below are available for Gentoo, while others (like launchd and SMF) are not.

Available software

Feature Init system
sysvinit OpenRC upstart systemd SMF launchd Epoch finit runit s6 + s6-rc 66 + 66-rc BSD rc.d dinit
Supported in Gentoo partially (used by OpenRC) Yes (default init) No Yes No No Yes No Yes No No No No
Package / Bug# sys-apps/sysvinit sys-apps/openrc bug #498376
sys-apps/upstart in unity-gentoo overlay.
sys-apps/systemd - - sys-apps/epoch - sys-process/runit sys-apps/s6 + sys-apps/s6-rc - - -
Supported platforms Linux / BSD Linux + BSD Linux Linux Solaris MacOSX Linux Linux Linux / BSD / MacOSX Linux / BSD / MacOSX Linux BSD Linux / BSD / MacOSX
Main coding language C POSIX shell (+ C) C C C C C C C C C POSIX shell (+ C) C++
Main dependencies - init (sysv or BSD) D-Bus D-Bus init(sysv?) - libc, /bin/sh ? - skalibs, execline s6, s6-rc rcorder -
Init script/service format single config file shell scripts config files + shell fragments config files (ini) XML (+ shell scripts) plist multiple or single .conf multiple or single .conf shell scripts execline or shell scripts config files + execline fragments shell scripts config files
Per-service configuration No Yes (conf.d) With in-job mechanisms (normal exit, respawn) Yes Yes (service instances) ? Yes (v1.1+) ? No No Yes No Yes
Running as a daemon Yes (PID 1) Yes (PID 1) Yes (PID 1) Yes (PID 1) Yes (invoked) Yes (PID 1) Yes (PID 1) Yes (PID 1) Yes (PID 1) Yes (sys-apps/s6-linux-init) Yes (PID 1) Yes (PID 1) Yes (PID 1)
Cross-service dependencies/events No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes (basic support, v1.3+) ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Parallel service startup Yes Yes (optional) Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Keeping daemons alive Yes Yes (optional v0.21+ via supervise-daemon) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Preferred service file supplier n/a Gentoo Ubuntu upstream Solaris MacOSX n/a n/a Void Linux Artix Linux Obarun NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD n/a
License GPL v2+ 2-cl. BSD GPL v2 LGPL v2.1+ ? Apache License 2.0 Unlicense MIT BSD ISC ISC BSD Apache License 2.0

Supported services (in Gentoo)

Feature OpenRC systemd
Filesystem mounting One script per group (root, local, network, swap, etc.). Two units per mount point (fsck + mount), runtime-generated with dependencies.
getty (terminal prompts) Started through /etc/inittab or via agetty script One unit per console, instantiated from template on-demand.
Networking setup Several options like dhcpcd[1][2], netifrc, iwd, or NetworkManager.[3] Integrated (systemd-networkd), or using any of the external options mentioned prior.
X11 Display Manager setup Single service for all (required to auto-restart). Separate Display Manager units.

See also

External resources

References