Question concerning the language of the file: /etc/rc.d/rc on CentOS 5

dmauas · 12-30-2008, 01:38 AM

Hi all
Before posting this thread I have attempted a web search and a forum search to find any relevant info, yet I have found no relevant info.

I have opened the file /etc/rc.d/rc in vim and am having trouble understanding it: It's not C, it's not perl, and its hard to find information about the programming language used in this file - my question is quite simply:

What language is this file written in?
(please note that I referring specifically to the file /etc/rc.d/rc and not any other rc* or rc.* file)

Thanks a lot,
dmauas

billymayday · 12-30-2008, 01:44 AM

Looks like a bash script to me

billymayday · 12-30-2008, 01:48 AM

Sorry - just did a quick cat

First line confirms it

Code:

#! /bin/bash
#
# rc            This file is responsible for starting/stopping
#               services when the runlevel change

colucix · 12-30-2008, 01:59 AM

In addition, when the so called sha-bang is present in the very first line of the script, the file command tells you about the type of script/program:

Code:

$ file /etc/rc.d/rc
/etc/rc.d/rc: Bourne-Again shell script text executable

Basically on a Linux system you will find two types of executable files: shell scripts, being /bin/bash the native shell in Linux, and ELF executables. For example

Code:

$ file /usr/bin/file
/usr/bin/file: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), for GNU/Linux 2.6.9, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.9, stripped

These are the compiled C/C++ programs. The source of these programs are not available by default on your system, unless you explicitly install the source packages (for example if you want to rebuild a package or re-compile a code using specific options).

Nevertheless you can find other types of scripts, basically written in Perl or Python. At a first glance the file command can reveal their nature.