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euri-iso/docs/init-systems.md

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Init Systems default 4 true

Init Systems

An init system is PID 1 — the first process started by the kernel during boot. It is responsible for initializing the system: mounting filesystems, starting networking, launching services, and managing the display manager. All other processes descend from PID 1.

Euri Linux ships with Dinit as its default init system. The pages below describe the major init systems available on Artix Linux. To switch init on an installed system, see Changing init.

Available init systems

Init Philosophy Complexity Speed Used by
Dinit Modern, dependency-based, parallel Medium Very fast Euri Linux (default), Chimera Linux, Artix
OpenRC Traditional, modular, shell-script-based Low Fast Gentoo, Artix, Devuan, Alpine
Runit Minimal, supervision-based, Unix-like Low Very fast Void Linux, AntiX
S6 Full supervision suite, modular Medium-High Very fast Artix, embedded systems

Shared characteristics

  • No systemd — all four are independent implementations
  • Service files — services are configured via files in /etc/
  • Runlevels — groups of services that start together under different conditions
  • Plain-text logging — logs are written to /var/log/

Comparison

Aspect Dinit OpenRC Runit S6
Service format Declarative .conf files Shell scripts Executable run scripts run scripts + s6-rc database
Dependencies Automatic Manual (need/use) None Automatic (s6-rc)
Supervision Optional No Yes (runsv) Yes (s6-supervise)
Logging None built-in syslog Per-service (optional) Per-service (s6-log)
Init script None needed /etc/init.d/ /etc/runit/1/2/3 s6-linux-init

Switching init after installation

See Changing init for step-by-step instructions on switching to OpenRC, Runit, or S6 on an installed system.