Booting process of LinuxThe multi-stage booting process of Linux is in many ways similar to the BSD and other Unix-style boot processes, from which it derives. Booting a Linux installation involves multiple stages and software components, including firmware initialization, execution of a boot loader, loading and startup of a Linux kernel image, and execution of various startup scripts and daemons.
Super-serverA super-server or sometimes called a service dispatcher is a type of daemon run generally on Unix-like systems. A super-server starts other servers when needed, normally with access to them checked by a TCP wrapper. It uses very few resources when in idle state. This can be ideal for workstations used for local web development, client/server development or low-traffic daemons with occasional usage (such as ident and SSH). The creation of an operating system process embodying the sub-daemon is deferred until an incoming connection for the sub-daemon arrives.
RunlevelA runlevel is a mode of operation in the computer operating systems that implements Unix System V-style initialization. Conventionally, seven runlevels exist, numbered from zero to six. S is sometimes used as a synonym for one of the levels. Only one runlevel is executed on startup; run levels are not executed one after another (i.e. only runlevel 2, 3, or 4 is executed, not more of them sequentially or in any other order). A runlevel defines the state of the machine after boot.
Udevudev (userspace ) is a device manager for the Linux kernel. As the successor of devfsd and hotplug, udev primarily manages device nodes in the directory. At the same time, udev also handles all user space events raised when hardware devices are added into the system or removed from it, including firmware loading as required by certain devices. It is an operating system's kernel that is responsible for providing an abstract interface of the hardware to the rest of the software.
InitIn Unix-based computer operating systems, init (short for initialization) is the first process started during booting of the operating system. Init is a daemon process that continues running until the system is shut down. It is the direct or indirect ancestor of all other processes and automatically adopts all orphaned processes. Init is started by the kernel during the booting process; a kernel panic will occur if the kernel is unable to start it, or it should die for any reason. Init is typically assigned process identifier 1.
Launchdlaunchd is an init and operating system service management daemon created by Apple Inc. as part of macOS to replace its BSD-style init and SystemStarter. There have been efforts to port launchd to FreeBSD and derived systems. There are two main programs in the launchd system: launchd and launchctl. launchd manages the daemons at both a system and user level. Similar to xinetd, launchd can start daemons on demand. Similar to watchdogd, launchd can monitor daemons to make sure that they keep running.
Linux From ScratchLinux From Scratch (LFS) is a type of a Linux installation and the name of a book written by Gerard Beekmans, and as of May 2021, mainly maintained by Bruce Dubbs. The book gives readers instructions on how to build a Linux system from source. The book is available freely from the Linux From Scratch site. Linux From Scratch is a way to install a working Linux system by building all components of it manually. This is, naturally, a longer process than installing a pre-compiled Linux distribution.
At (command)In computing, at is a command in Unix-like operating systems, Microsoft Windows, and ReactOS used to schedule commands to be executed once, at a particular time in the future. On Unix-like operating systems, at reads a series of commands from standard input and collects them into one "at-job" which is carried out at a later date. The job inherits the current environment, so that it is executed in the same working directory and with the same environment variables set as when it was scheduled.
Background processA background process is a computer process that runs behind the scenes (i.e., in the background) and without user intervention. Typical tasks for these processes include logging, system monitoring, scheduling, and user notification. On a Windows system, a background process is either a computer program that does not create a user interface, or a Windows service. The former are started just as any other program is started, e.g., via Start menu. Windows services, on the other hand, are started by Service Control Manager.
NetworkManagerNetworkManager is a daemon that sits on top of libudev and other Linux kernel interfaces (and a couple of other daemons) and provides a high-level interface for the configuration of the network interfaces. NetworkManager is a software utility that aims to simplify the use of computer networks. NetworkManager is available for Linux kernel-based and other Unix-like operating systems. To connect computers with each other, various communications protocols have been developed, e.g. IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet), IEEE 802.
