System-V init and runlevels
The default runlevel to boot into can be set in /etc/inittab.
Unlike other distributions, Debian makes the management of runlevel completely the sysadmin's responsibility. Management of System-V style init
on Debian is intended to be performed through update-rc.d scripts.
Starting /etc/init.d/name in runlevel 1,2,3 and stopping in 4,5 with sequencing priority number 20 (normal) can be done by:
# update-rc.d name start 20 1 2 3 . stop 20 4 5 .
Removing symbolic links while the script in init.d still exists can be done by:
# update-rc.d -f name remove
For editing runlevels, I cheat. I edit entries manually using the mv command at the shell prompt of mc while copying link entries using Alt-Enter. For example:
# mv S99xdm K99xdm # disable xdm (X display manager)
I even disable a daemon by inserting exit 0 at the start of an init.d script as a quick hack. These are conffiles
after all.
