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Old 01-03-2007, 03:29 PM   #1
linux4real
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Unhappy unix start-up process


hi everyone,
please i need some help.
i would like to have someone explain to me (as explicitly, and with as much detail as poossible) the unix start-up process, right up to the shell, including all processes created with their pids and all that kind of stuff!
any help is welcome.
thanks in advance
 
Old 01-03-2007, 03:38 PM   #2
jim_fields
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Here try this:
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerwork...oot/index.html

The boot process is complex and not easily explained in a forum. Good Luck!
EDIT:
That link describes linux bootup process on x86 hardware. If you need a unix boot process description you may need to consult the vendor specific documentation.

Last edited by jim_fields; 01-03-2007 at 03:45 PM.
 
Old 01-03-2007, 03:53 PM   #3
kilgoretrout
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You really need a text book to go into that kind of detail. The init process also varies from one flavor of unix to another and linux has a different init process in general and the different linux distros have somewhat differing init sequences.
The question is too broad. There are many books which go into this in detail like "Running Linux". Bascially, you have to look at init, innittab and the rc files in /etc. These are all scripts or text configuration files and they control the boot process.
 
Old 01-03-2007, 04:08 PM   #4
linux4real
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thanks. as i said: any help is welcome!
links are welcome as well!

umm ... couldn't lay hands on a good text book and couldn't find it on the net so this forum is (almost) my last resort.

EDIT:
i would like to have any general explanation; not specific to any hardware or linux software.

Last edited by linux4real; 01-03-2007 at 04:50 PM.
 
Old 01-03-2007, 04:40 PM   #5
raskin
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Well, you want to learn something? There a search term goes (I checked it works at least in Snap, guess it must work in all search engines): "From Power Up to Bash Prompt". It is rather brief, though it gives all the steps. Maybe links from it are also useful. Also things that are found randomly when you search for it have big chance to be relevant to your topic. You failed to find anything using web search, uh? Now you'll have lots of rather relevant sites...
 
Old 01-03-2007, 05:19 PM   #6
frob23
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The best way is to find an explanation up to init and how it starts the script process, and then to manually read the scripts for the system you want to know this about. It's the only way to know exactly what is being started.

As for PIDs... aside from a select few processes, PIDs are not always sequential and a system may intentionally randomize them to make them harder to predict (for security reasons).
 
Old 01-03-2007, 06:08 PM   #7
Linux_Kidd
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bios >>> boot device (boot strap) >>> kernel >>> init >>> runlevels

each of these does allot. when you get enough info and have a running nix to play around with, take a look at the "top" utility and confgure it to show parent PID. hmmmmm, what is PID 0 and where is it ??
 
  


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