[SOLVED] Detect the init system used in a Linux distro

the_gripmaster · 03-04-2016, 12:58 AM

In order to find out which init system a linux distro is using what I do is check the /sbin/init file.

I would start by checking

Code:

readlink /sbin/init

. If it is pointing to systemd or upstart, I get my answer. If it is not a symbolic link I would query which package the file belongs to: on a debian/ubuntu I would do

Code:

dpkg -S /sbin/init

and on a CentOS/RHEL/Fedora I would do

Code:

rpm -qf /sbin/init

Am I missing something? Is my process of detecting the init process flawed?

MensaWater · 03-04-2016, 06:55 AM

For RHEL5/6/7 simply doing the "rpm -qf /sbin/init" should be sufficient (i.e. even if a symbolic link some package installed that link):

RHEL5:
rpm -qf /sbin/init
SysVinit-2.86-17.el5

RHEL6:
rpm -qf /sbin/init
upstart-0.6.5-13.el6_5.3.x86_64

RHEL7:
rpm -qf /sbin/init
systemd-219-19.el7_2.4.x86_64