runit
Cross-platform Unix init scheme with service supervision
TLDR
Start runit init
SYNOPSIS
runit [options]
sv command service
DESCRIPTION
runit is a Unix init scheme with service supervision. It's an alternative to systemd and SysV init.
Three stages handle system boot. Stage 1 initializes, stage 2 runs services, stage 3 shuts down.
Service directories contain run scripts. A simple executable script defines the service.
Supervision restarts crashed services. Automatic recovery maintains system availability.
Logging integrates with svlogd. Per-service log rotation and management.
CONFIGURATION
/etc/service/
Default service directory where symlinks to service definitions are placed. Each subdirectory represents a supervised service./etc/sv/
Service definition directory containing run scripts and optional log/run scripts for each service./etc/runit/1
Stage 1 script executed during system initialization before services start./etc/runit/2
Stage 2 script that starts the service supervisor (typically runsvdir)./etc/runit/3
Stage 3 script executed during system shutdown for cleanup tasks.
COMMANDS
sv start SERVICE
Start service.sv stop SERVICE
Stop service.sv restart SERVICE
Restart service.sv status SERVICE
Check status.sv reload SERVICE
Send SIGHUP.sv once SERVICE
Run once, no restart.
SERVICE STRUCTURE
- `/etc/service/name/run` - Service script
- `/etc/service/name/log/run` - Logger script
- `/etc/service/name/supervise/` - Status directory
CAVEATS
Different from systemd syntax. Learning curve for run script creation. Less widespread than systemd.
HISTORY
runit was created by Gerrit Pape around 2004 as a lightweight init system. It's used by Void Linux as the default init and available on many distributions.