Frequently Asked Questions for FreeBSD 2.X : System Administration : Where are the system start-up configuration files?
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8.1. Where are the system start-up configuration files?

From 2.0.5R to 2.2.1R, the primary configuration file is /etc/sysconfig. All the options are to be specified in this file and other files such as /etc/rc and /etc/netstart just include it.

Look in the /etc/sysconfig file and change the value to match your system. This file is filled with comments to show what to put in there.

In post-2.2.1 and 3.0, /etc/sysconfig was renamed to a more self-describing rc.conf file and the syntax cleaned up a bit in the process. /etc/netstart was also renamed to /etc/rc.network so that all files could be copied with a cp /usr/src/etc/rc* /etc command.

/etc/rc.local is here as always and may be used to start up additional local services like INN or set custom options.

The /etc/rc.serial is for serial port initialization (e.g. locking the port characteristics, and so on.).

The /etc/rc.i386 is for Intel-specifics settings, such as iBCS2 emulation or the PC system console configuration.

Starting with 2.1.0R, you can also have "local" startup files in a directory specified in /etc/sysconfig (or /etc/rc.conf):

        # Location of local startup files.
        local_startup=/usr/local/etc/rc.local.d
      

Each file ending in .sh will be executed in alphabetical order.

If you want to ensure a certain execution order without changing all the file names, you can use a scheme similar to the following with digits prepended to each file name to insure the ordering:

        10news.sh
        15httpd.sh
        20ssh.sh
      

It can be seen as ugly (or SysV :-)) but it provides a simple and regular scheme for locally-added packages without resorting to magical editing of /etc/rc.local. Many of the ports/packages assume that /usr/local/etc/rc.d is a local startup directory.


Frequently Asked Questions for FreeBSD 2.X : System Administration : Where are the system start-up configuration files?
Previous: System Administration
Next: How do I add a user easily?