Alpine Linux Init System

Alpine Linux uses OpenRC for its init system.

Quick-Start Information

Alpine Linux has the following commands for managing the init system:

rc-update add service <runlevel>
rc-update del service <runlevel>
rc-service <service> <start | stop | restart>
(Equivalent to /etc/init.d/service <start | stop | restart>)
rc-status
(To check services and their set runlevels)
rc <runlevel>
(To change to a different runlevel)
reboot
(Equivalent to shutdown -r now from traditional GNU/Linux systems)
shutdown
(Equivalent to shutdown -h now from traditional GNU/Linux systems)

Tip: Prior to Alpine Linux 2.0, you might need to use the following commands instead: rc_add, rc_delete, and rc_status.

Available Runlevels

The available runlevels are:

default - Used if no runlevel is specified. (This is generally the runlevel you want to add services to.)
hotplugged
needed
manual

The special runlevels are:

sysinit - Brings up any system specific stuff such as /dev, /proc and optionally /sys for Linux based systems. It also mounts /lib/rc/init.d as a ramdisk using tmpfs where available unless / is mounted rw at boot. rc uses /lib/rc/init.d to hold state information about the services it runs. sysinit always runs when the host first starts and should not be run again.
boot - Generally the only services you should add to the boot runlevel are those which deal with the mounting of filesystems, set the initial state of attached peripherals and logging. Hotplugged services are added to the boot runlevel by the system. All services in the boot and sysinit runlevels are automatically included in all other runlevels except for those listed here.
single - Stops all services except for those in the sysinit runlevel.
reboot - Changes to the shutdown runlevel and then reboots the host.
shutdown - Changes to the shutdown runlevel and then halts the host.

rc-update usage

Usage: rc-update [options] add service <runlevel>
       rc-update [options] del service <runlevel>
       rc-update [options] show

Options: [suChqv]
  -s, --stack                       Stack a runlevel instead of a service
  -u, --update                      Force an update of the dependency tree
  -h, --help                        Display this help output
  -C, --nocolor                     Disable color output
  -v, --verbose                     Run verbosely
  -q, --quiet                       Run quietly

rc-status usage

Usage: rc-status [options] [runlevel1] [runlevel2] ...

Options: [aclrsuChqv]
  -a, --all                         Show services from all run levels
  -c, --crashed                     Show crashed services
  -l, --list                        Show list of run levels
  -r, --runlevel                    Show the name of the current runlevel
  -s, --servicelist                 Show service list
  -u, --unused                      Show services not assigned to any runlevel
  -h, --help                        Display this help output
  -C, --nocolor                     Disable color output
  -v, --verbose                     Run verbosely
  -q, --quiet                       Run quietly