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Slackware Linux uses the BSD-style file layout for its system initialization files. These files are organized and easy to edit. All of the system initialization files are stored in the /etc/rc.d directory. To prevent a script from executing at startup you can remove the execute permission on the file and Slackware will not execute it. The following is a general description of what the different files do.
System Startup

The first program to run under Slackware besides the Linux kernel is init. This program reads /etc/inittab file to see how to run the system. It runs the /etc/rc.d/rc.S script to prepare the system before going into your desired runlevel. The rc.S file enables your virtual memory, mounts your filesystems, cleans up certain log directories, initializes Plug and Play devices, loads kernel modules, configures PCMCIA devices, sets up serial ports, and runs System V init scripts (if found). There are some scripts in /etc/rc.d that rc.S will call on to complete its work:

rc.S This is the actual system initialization script.
rc.acpid Starts the acpi daemon
rc.hotplug This script starts hotpluggable subsystems
rc.modules Loads kernel modules. Things like your network card, PPP support, and other things are loaded here. If this script finds rc.netdevice, it will run that as well.
rc.pcmcia Probes for and configures any PCMCIA devices that you might have on your system. This is most useful for laptop users, who probably have a PCMCIA modem or network card.
rc.serial Configures your serial ports by running the appropriate setserial commands.
rc.sysvinit Looks for System V init scripts for the desired runlevel and runs them. This is discussed more in detail below.

Runlevels

After system initialization is complete, init moves on to runlevel initialization. A runlevel describes the state that your machine will be running in. Sound redundant? Well, the runlevel tells init if you will be accepting multiuser logins or just a single user, whether or not you want network services, and if you will be using the X Window System or agetty to handle logins. The files below define the different runlevels in Slackware Linux.

rc.0 Halt the system (runlevel 0). By default, this is symlinked to rc.6.
rc.4 Multiuser startup (runlevel 4), but in X11 with KDM, GDM, or XDM as the login manager.
rc.6 Reboot the system (runlevel 6).
rc.K Startup in single user mode (runlevel 1).
rc.M Multiuser mode (runlevel 2 and 3), but with the standard text-based login. This is the default runlevel in Slackware.

Network Initialization

Runlevels 2, 3, and 4 will startup the network services if you have that enabled. The following files are responsible for the network initialization:

rc.inetd Starts up inetd, the BSD Internet super-daemon.
rc.inet1 This script is used to bring up the various network interfaces.
rc.inet1.conf Modified by netconfig, this file is responsible for configuring the actual network interfaces.
rc.ip_forward Activates IP packet forwarding.
rc.inet2 Runs after rc.inet1 and starts up basic network services.
rc.wireless This script sets up PCI, USB, and 32-bit Cardbus wireless devices - NOT 16-bit PCMCIA cards (those are configured in /etc/pcmcia/).
rc.wireless.conf Wireless LAN adapter configuration.
rc.atalk Starts up AppleTalk services.
rc.bind Starts up the BIND name server (named).
rc.httpd Starts up the Apache web server.
rc.mysqld Starts up the MySQL server.
rc.news Starts up the news server.
rc.nfsd Starts up the NFS server.
rc.portmap Starts up the RPC portmapper.
rc.samba Starts up Windows file and print sharing services.
rc.sshd Starts up the secure shell server (sshd).

System V Compatibility

Since version 7.0, Slackware includes System V init compatibility. Many other Linux distributions make use of this style instead of the BSD style. Basically each runlevel is given a subdirectory for init scripts, whereas BSD style gives one init script to each runlevel.

The rc.sysvinit script will search for any System V init scripts you have in /etc/rc.d and run them, if the runlevel is appropriate. This is useful for certain commercial software packages that install System V init scripts and scripts for BSD style init.

Other Files

The scripts described below are the other system initialization scripts. They are typically run from one of the major scripts above, so all you need to do is edit the contents.

rc.cdrom If enabled, this script will scan for a CD-ROM in a drive and mount it under /cdrom if it finds one.
rc.gpm Starts up general purpose mouse services. Allows you to cut and paste at the Linux console.
rc.ibcs2 Starts up the Intel Binary Compatibility support.
rc.font Loads the custom screen font for the console.
rc.local Contains any specific startup commands for your system. This is empty after a fresh install, as it is reserved for local administrators. This script is run after all other initialization has taken place.

Slackware™ is a trademark of Patrick Volkerding.