NAME
initctl - init daemon control tool
SYNOPSIS
initctl [OPTION]... COMMAND [OPTION]... ARG...
DESCRIPTION
initctl allows a system administrator to communicate and interact with
the Upstart init(8) daemon.
When run as initctl, the first non-option argument is the COMMAND.
Global options may be specified before or after the command.
You may also create symbolic or hard links to initctl named after
commands. When invoked through these links the tool will behave only
as that command, with global and command-specific options intermixed.
The default installation supplies such links for the start, stop,
restart, reload and status commands.
OPTIONS
--system
Communication with the init(8) daemon is normally performed over
a private socket connection. This has the advantage of speed
and robustness, when issuing commands to start or stop services
or even reboot the system you do not want to be affected by
changes to the D-Bus system bus daemon.
The disadvantage to using the private socket however is
security, init(8) only permits the root user to communicate over
this socket which means that read-only commands such as status
and list cannot be made by other users.
The --system option instructs initctl to communicate via the D-
Bus system bus rather than over the private socket.
This is only possible if the system bus daemon is running and if
init(8) is connected to it. The advantage is that the default
security configuration allows non-root users to use read-only
commands.
--dest Specifies the well-known name of the init(8) daemon when using
--system.
There is normally no need to use this option since the init(8)
daemon uses the default com.ubuntu.Upstart name. However it may
be useful for debugging.
--no-wait
Applies to the start, stop, restart and emit commands.
Normally initctl will wait for the command to finish before
returning.
For the start, stop and restart commands, finishing means that
the named job is running (or has finished for tasks) or has been
fully stopped.
For the emit command, finishing means that all of the jobs
affected by the event are running (or have finished for tasks)
or have been fully stopped.
This option instead causes these commands to only wait for the
goal change or event to be queued.
--quiet
Reduces output of all commands to errors only.
COMMANDS
start JOB [KEY=VALUE]...
Requests that a new instance of the named JOB be started,
outputting the status of the job to standard output when the
command completes.
See status for a description of the output format.
The optional KEY=VALUE arguments specify environment variables
to be passed to the starting job, and placed in its environment.
They also serve to specify which instance of multi-instance jobs
should be started.
Most jobs only permit a single instance; those that use the
instance stanza in their configuration define a string expanded
from environment variables to name the instance. As many unique
instances may be started as unique names may be generated by the
stanza. Thus the environment variables also serve to select
which instance of JOB is to be acted upon.
If the job is already running, start will return an error.
stop JOB [KEY=VALUE]...
Requests that an instance of the named JOB be stopped,
outputting the status of the job to standard output when the
command completes.
See status for a description of the output format and start for
a discussion on instances.
restart
JOB [KEY=VALUE]...
Requests that an instance of the named JOB be restarted,
outputting the status of the job to standard output when the
command completes.
See status for a description of the output format and start for
a discussion on instances.
Note that this command can only be used when there is an
instance of JOB, if there is none then it returns an error
instead of starting a new one.
reload JOB [KEY=VALUE]...
Sends the SIGHUP signal to running process of the named JOB
instance.
See start for a discussion on instances.
status JOB [KEY=VALUE]...
Requests the status an instance of the named JOB, outputting to
standard output.
See start for a discusson on instances.
For a single-instance job a line like the following is output:
job start/running, process 1234
The job name is given first followed by the current goal and
state of the selected instance. The goal is either start or
stop, the status may be one of waiting, starting, pre-start,
spawned, post-start, running, pre-stop, stopping, killed or
post-stop.
If the job has an active process, the process id will follow on
the same line. If the state is pre-start or post-stop this will
be the process id of the equivalent process, otherwise it will
be the process id of the main process.
job start/pre-start, process 902
The post-start and pre-stop states may have multiple processes
attached, the extra processes will follow on consecutive lines
indented by a tab:
job start/post-start, process 1234
post-start process 1357
If there is no main process, they may follow on the same line
but will be prefixed to indicate that it is not the main process
id being given:
job start/post-start, (post-start) process 1357
Jobs that permit multiple instances have names for each
instance, the output is otherwise identical to the above except
that the instance name follows the job name in parentheses:
job (tty1) start/post-start, process 1234
post-start process 1357
list Requests a list of the known jobs and instances, outputs the
status of each to standard output.
See status for a description of the output format and start for
a discussion on instances.
No particular order is used for the output, and there is no
difference in the output (other than the instance name appearing
in parentheses) between single-instance and multiple-instance
jobs.
emit EVENT [KEY=VALUE]...
Requests that the named EVENT be emitted, potentially causing
jobs to be started and stopped depending on their use of the
start on and stop on stanzas in their configuration.
The optional KEY=VALUE arguments specify environment variables
to be included with the event and thus exported into the
environment of any jobs started and stopped by the event.
The environment may also serve to specify which instance of
multi-instance jobs should be started or stopped. See start for
a discussion on instances.
There is no limitation on the event names that may be emitted
with this command, you are free to invent new events and use
them in your job configurations.
The most well known event used by the default Upstart
configuration is the runlevel(7) event. This is normally
emitted by the telinit(8) and shutdown(8) tools.
reload-configuration
Requests that the init(8) daemon reloads its configuration.
This command is generally not necessary since init(8) watches
its configuration directories with inotify(7) and automatically
reloads in cases of changes.
No jobs will be started by this command.
version
Requests and outputs the version of the running init daemon.
log-priority
[PRIORITY]
When called with a PRIORITY argument, it requests that the
init(8) daemon log all messages with that priority or greater.
This may be used to both increase and decrease the volume of
logged messages.
PRIORITY may be one of debug, info, message, warn, error or
fatal.
When called without argument, it requests the current minimum
message priority that the init(8) daemon will log and ouputs to
standard output.
AUTHOR
Written by Scott James Remnant <scott@netsplit.com>
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs at <https://launchpad.net/upstart/+bugs>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2010 Canonical Ltd.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is
NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE.
SEE ALSO
init(8) telinit(8) shutdown(8)