README.md
1Android Init Language
2---------------------
3
4The Android Init Language consists of five broad classes of statements:
5Actions, Commands, Services, Options, and Imports.
6
7All of these are line-oriented, consisting of tokens separated by
8whitespace. The c-style backslash escapes may be used to insert
9whitespace into a token. Double quotes may also be used to prevent
10whitespace from breaking text into multiple tokens. The backslash,
11when it is the last character on a line, may be used for line-folding.
12
13Lines which start with a `#` (leading whitespace allowed) are comments.
14
15System properties can be expanded using the syntax
16`${property.name}`. This also works in contexts where concatenation is
17required, such as `import /init.recovery.${ro.hardware}.rc`.
18
19Actions and Services implicitly declare a new section. All commands
20or options belong to the section most recently declared. Commands
21or options before the first section are ignored.
22
23Services have unique names. If a second Service is defined
24with the same name as an existing one, it is ignored and an error
25message is logged.
26
27
28Init .rc Files
29--------------
30The init language is used in plain text files that take the .rc file
31extension. There are typically multiple of these in multiple
32locations on the system, described below.
33
34`/system/etc/init/hw/init.rc` is the primary .rc file and is loaded by the init executable at the
35beginning of its execution. It is responsible for the initial set up of the system.
36
37Init loads all of the files contained within the
38`/{system,system_ext,vendor,odm,product}/etc/init/` directories immediately after loading
39the primary `/system/etc/init/hw/init.rc`. This is explained in more details in the
40[Imports](#imports) section of this file.
41
42Legacy devices without the first stage mount mechanism previously were
43able to import init scripts during mount_all, however that is deprecated
44and not allowed for devices launching after Q.
45
46The intention of these directories is:
47
48 1. /system/etc/init/ is for core system items such as
49 SurfaceFlinger, MediaService, and logd.
50 2. /vendor/etc/init/ is for SoC vendor items such as actions or
51 daemons needed for core SoC functionality.
52 3. /odm/etc/init/ is for device manufacturer items such as
53 actions or daemons needed for motion sensor or other peripheral
54 functionality.
55
56All services whose binaries reside on the system, vendor, or odm
57partitions should have their service entries placed into a
58corresponding init .rc file, located in the /etc/init/
59directory of the partition where they reside. There is a build
60system macro, LOCAL\_INIT\_RC, that handles this for developers. Each
61init .rc file should additionally contain any actions associated with
62its service.
63
64An example is the userdebug logcatd.rc and Android.mk files located in the
65system/core/logcat directory. The LOCAL\_INIT\_RC macro in the
66Android.mk file places logcatd.rc in /system/etc/init/ during the
67build process. Init loads logcatd.rc during the mount\_all command and
68allows the service to be run and the action to be queued when
69appropriate.
70
71This break up of init .rc files according to their daemon is preferred
72to the previously used monolithic init .rc files. This approach
73ensures that the only service entries that init reads and the only
74actions that init performs correspond to services whose binaries are in
75fact present on the file system, which was not the case with the
76monolithic init .rc files. This additionally will aid in merge
77conflict resolution when multiple services are added to the system, as
78each one will go into a separate file.
79
80Versioned RC files within APEXs
81-------------------------------
82
83With the arrival of mainline on Android Q, the individual mainline
84modules carry their own init.rc files within their boundaries. Init
85processes these files according to the naming pattern `/apex/*/etc/*rc`.
86
87Because APEX modules must run on more than one release of Android,
88they may require different parameters as part of the services they
89define. This is achieved, starting in Android T, by incorporating
90the SDK version information in the name of the init file. The suffix
91is changed from `.rc` to `.#rc` where # is the first SDK where that
92RC file is accepted. An init file specific to SDK=31 might be named
93`init.31rc`. With this scheme, an APEX may include multiple init files. An
94example is appropriate.
95
96For an APEX module with the following files in /apex/sample-module/apex/etc/:
97
98 1. init.rc
99 2. init.32rc
100 4. init.35rc
101
102The selection rule chooses the highest `.#rc` value that does not
103exceed the SDK of the currently running system. The unadorned `.rc`
104is interpreted as sdk=0.
105
106When this APEX is installed on a device with SDK <=31, the system will
107process init.rc. When installed on a device running SDK 32, 33, or 34,
108it will use init.32rc. When installed on a device running SDKs >= 35,
109it will choose init.35rc
110
111This versioning scheme is used only for the init files within APEX
112modules; it does not apply to the init files stored in /system/etc/init,
113/vendor/etc/init, or other directories.
114
115This naming scheme is available after Android S.
116
117Actions
118-------
119Actions are named sequences of commands. Actions have a trigger which
120is used to determine when the action is executed. When an event
121occurs which matches an action's trigger, that action is added to
122the tail of a to-be-executed queue (unless it is already on the
123queue).
124
125Each action in the queue is dequeued in sequence and each command in
126that action is executed in sequence. Init handles other activities
127(device creation/destruction, property setting, process restarting)
128"between" the execution of the commands in activities.
129
130Actions take the form of:
131
132 on <trigger> [&& <trigger>]*
133 <command>
134 <command>
135 <command>
136
137Actions are added to the queue and executed based on the order that
138the file that contains them was parsed (see the Imports section), then
139sequentially within an individual file.
140
141For example if a file contains:
142
143 on boot
144 setprop a 1
145 setprop b 2
146
147 on boot && property:true=true
148 setprop c 1
149 setprop d 2
150
151 on boot
152 setprop e 1
153 setprop f 2
154
155Then when the `boot` trigger occurs and assuming the property `true`
156equals `true`, then the order of the commands executed will be:
157
158 setprop a 1
159 setprop b 2
160 setprop c 1
161 setprop d 2
162 setprop e 1
163 setprop f 2
164
165If the property `true` wasn't `true` when the `boot` was triggered, then the
166order of the commands executed will be:
167
168 setprop a 1
169 setprop b 2
170 setprop e 1
171 setprop f 2
172
173If the property `true` becomes `true` *AFTER* `boot` was triggered, nothing will
174be executed. The condition `boot && property:true=true` will be evaluated to
175false because the `boot` trigger is a past event.
176
177Note that when `ro.property_service.async_persist_writes` is `true`, there is no
178defined ordering between persistent setprops and non-persistent setprops. For
179example:
180
181 on boot
182 setprop a 1
183 setprop persist.b 2
184
185When `ro.property_service.async_persist_writes` is `true`, triggers for these
186two properties may execute in any order.
187
188Services
189--------
190Services are programs which init launches and (optionally) restarts
191when they exit. Services take the form of:
192
193 service <name> <pathname> [ <argument> ]*
194 <option>
195 <option>
196 ...
197
198
199Options
200-------
201Options are modifiers to services. They affect how and when init
202runs the service.
203
204`capabilities [ <capability>\* ]`
205> Set capabilities when exec'ing this service. 'capability' should be a Linux
206 capability without the "CAP\_" prefix, like "NET\_ADMIN" or "SETPCAP". See
207 http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/capabilities.7.html for a list of Linux
208 capabilities.
209 If no capabilities are provided, then behaviour depends on the user the service runs under:
210 * if it's root, then the service will run with all the capabitilies (note: whether the
211 service can actually use them is controlled by selinux);
212 * otherwise all capabilities will be dropped.
213
214`class <name> [ <name>\* ]`
215> Specify class names for the service. All services in a
216 named class may be started or stopped together. A service
217 is in the class "default" if one is not specified via the
218 class option. Additional classnames beyond the (required) first
219 one are used to group services.
220 The `animation` class should include all services necessary for both
221 boot animation and shutdown animation. As these services can be
222 launched very early during bootup and can run until the last stage
223 of shutdown, access to /data partition is not guaranteed. These
224 services can check files under /data but it should not keep files opened
225 and should work when /data is not available.
226
227`console [<console>]`
228> This service needs a console. The optional second parameter chooses a
229 specific console instead of the default. The default "/dev/console" can
230 be changed by setting the "androidboot.console" kernel parameter. In
231 all cases the leading "/dev/" should be omitted, so "/dev/tty0" would be
232 specified as just "console tty0".
233 This option connects stdin, stdout, and stderr to the console. It is mutually exclusive with the
234 stdio_to_kmsg option, which only connects stdout and stderr to kmsg.
235
236`critical [window=<fatal crash window mins>] [target=<fatal reboot target>]`
237> This is a device-critical service. If it exits more than four times in
238 _fatal crash window mins_ minutes or before boot completes, the device
239 will reboot into _fatal reboot target_.
240 The default value of _fatal crash window mins_ is 4, and default value
241 of _fatal reboot target_ is 'bootloader'.
242 For tests, the fatal reboot can be skipped by setting property
243 `init.svc_debug.no_fatal.<service-name>` to `true` for specified critical service.
244
245`disabled`
246> This service will not automatically start with its class.
247 It must be explicitly started by name or by interface name.
248
249`enter_namespace <type> <path>`
250> Enters the namespace of type _type_ located at _path_. Only network namespaces are supported with
251 _type_ set to "net". Note that only one namespace of a given _type_ may be entered.
252
253`file <path> <type>`
254> Open a file path and pass its fd to the launched process. _type_ must be
255 "r", "w" or "rw". For native executables see libcutils
256 android\_get\_control\_file().
257
258`gentle_kill`
259> This service will be sent SIGTERM instead of SIGKILL when stopped. After a 200 ms timeout, it will
260 be sent SIGKILL.
261
262`group <groupname> [ <groupname>\* ]`
263> Change to 'groupname' before exec'ing this service. Additional
264 groupnames beyond the (required) first one are used to set the
265 supplemental groups of the process (via setgroups()).
266 Currently defaults to root. (??? probably should default to nobody)
267
268`interface <interface name> <instance name>`
269> Associates this service with a list of the AIDL or HIDL services that it provides. The interface
270 name must be a fully-qualified name and not a value name. For instance, this is used to allow
271 servicemanager or hwservicemanager to lazily start services. When multiple interfaces are served,
272 this tag should be used multiple times. An example of an entry for a HIDL
273 interface is `interface vendor.foo.bar@1.0::IBaz default`. For an AIDL interface, use
274 `interface aidl <instance name>`. The instance name for an AIDL interface is
275 whatever is registered with servicemanager, and these can be listed with `adb
276 shell dumpsys -l`.
277
278`ioprio <class> <priority>`
279> Sets the IO priority and IO priority class for this service via the SYS_ioprio_set syscall.
280 _class_ must be one of "rt", "be", or "idle". _priority_ must be an integer in the range 0 - 7.
281
282`keycodes <keycode> [ <keycode>\* ]`
283> Sets the keycodes that will trigger this service. If all of the keys corresponding to the passed
284 keycodes are pressed at once, the service will start. This is typically used to start the
285 bugreport service.
286
287> This option may take a property instead of a list of keycodes. In this case, only one option is
288 provided: the property name in the typical property expansion format. The property must contain
289 a comma separated list of keycode values or the text 'none' to indicate that
290 this service does not respond to keycodes.
291
292> For example, `keycodes ${some.property.name:-none}` where some.property.name expands
293 to "123,124,125". Since keycodes are handled very early in init,
294 only PRODUCT_DEFAULT_PROPERTY_OVERRIDES properties can be used.
295
296`memcg.limit_in_bytes <value>` and `memcg.limit_percent <value>`
297> Sets the child's memory.limit_in_bytes to the minimum of `limit_in_bytes`
298 bytes and `limit_percent` which is interpreted as a percentage of the size
299 of the device's physical memory (only if memcg is mounted).
300 Values must be equal or greater than 0.
301
302`memcg.limit_property <value>`
303> Sets the child's memory.limit_in_bytes to the value of the specified property
304 (only if memcg is mounted). This property will override the values specified
305 via `memcg.limit_in_bytes` and `memcg.limit_percent`.
306
307`memcg.soft_limit_in_bytes <value>`
308> Sets the child's memory.soft_limit_in_bytes to the specified value (only if memcg is mounted),
309 which must be equal or greater than 0.
310
311`memcg.swappiness <value>`
312> Sets the child's memory.swappiness to the specified value (only if memcg is mounted),
313 which must be equal or greater than 0.
314
315`namespace <pid|mnt>`
316> Enter a new PID or mount namespace when forking the service.
317
318`oneshot`
319> Do not restart the service when it exits.
320
321`onrestart`
322> Execute a Command (see below) when service restarts.
323
324`oom_score_adjust <value>`
325> Sets the child's /proc/self/oom\_score\_adj to the specified value,
326 which must range from -1000 to 1000.
327
328`override`
329> Indicates that this service definition is meant to override a previous definition for a service
330 with the same name. This is typically meant for services on /odm to override those defined on
331 /vendor. The last service definition that init parses with this keyword is the service definition
332 will use for this service. Pay close attention to the order in which init.rc files are parsed,
333 since it has some peculiarities for backwards compatibility reasons. The 'imports' section of
334 this file has more details on the order.
335
336`priority <priority>`
337> Scheduling priority of the service process. This value has to be in range
338 -20 to 19. Default priority is 0. Priority is set via setpriority().
339
340`reboot_on_failure <target>`
341> If this process cannot be started or if the process terminates with an exit code other than
342 CLD_EXITED or an status other than '0', reboot the system with the target specified in
343 _target_. _target_ takes the same format as the parameter to sys.powerctl. This is particularly
344 intended to be used with the `exec_start` builtin for any must-have checks during boot.
345
346`restart_period <seconds>`
347> If a non-oneshot service exits, it will be restarted at its previous start time plus this period.
348 The default value is 5s. This can be used to implement periodic services together with the
349 `timeout_period` command below. For example, it may be set to 3600 to indicate that the service
350 should run every hour or 86400 to indicate that the service should run every day. This can be set
351 to a value shorter than 5s for example 0, but the minimum 5s delay is enforced if the restart was
352 due to a crash. This is to rate limit persistentally crashing services. In other words,
353 `<seconds>` smaller than 5 is respected only when the service exits deliverately and successfully
354 (i.e. by calling exit(0)).
355
356`rlimit <resource> <cur> <max>`
357> This applies the given rlimit to the service. rlimits are inherited by child
358 processes, so this effectively applies the given rlimit to the process tree
359 started by this service.
360 It is parsed similarly to the setrlimit command specified below.
361
362`seclabel <seclabel>`
363> Change to 'seclabel' before exec'ing this service.
364 Primarily for use by services run from the rootfs, e.g. ueventd, adbd.
365 Services on the system partition can instead use policy-defined transitions
366 based on their file security context.
367 If not specified and no transition is defined in policy, defaults to the init context.
368
369`setenv <name> <value>`
370> Set the environment variable _name_ to _value_ in the launched process.
371
372`shutdown <shutdown_behavior>`
373> Set shutdown behavior of the service process. When this is not specified,
374 the service is killed during shutdown process by using SIGTERM and SIGKILL.
375 The service with shutdown_behavior of "critical" is not killed during shutdown
376 until shutdown times out. When shutdown times out, even services tagged with
377 "shutdown critical" will be killed. When the service tagged with "shutdown critical"
378 is not running when shut down starts, it will be started.
379
380`sigstop`
381> Send SIGSTOP to the service immediately before exec is called. This is intended for debugging.
382 See the below section on debugging for how this can be used.
383
384`socket <name> <type> <perm> [ <user> [ <group> [ <seclabel> ] ] ]`
385> Create a UNIX domain socket named /dev/socket/_name_ and pass its fd to the
386 launched process. The socket is created synchronously when the service starts.
387 _type_ must be "dgram", "stream" or "seqpacket". _type_ may end with "+passcred"
388 to enable SO_PASSCRED on the socket or "+listen" to synchronously make it a listening socket.
389 User and group default to 0. 'seclabel' is the SELinux security context for the
390 socket. It defaults to the service security context, as specified by
391 seclabel or computed based on the service executable file security context.
392 For native executables see libcutils android\_get\_control\_socket().
393
394`stdio_to_kmsg`
395> Redirect stdout and stderr to /dev/kmsg_debug. This is useful for services that do not use native
396 Android logging during early boot and whose logs messages we want to capture. This is only enabled
397 when /dev/kmsg_debug is enabled, which is only enabled on userdebug and eng builds.
398 This is mutually exclusive with the console option, which additionally connects stdin to the
399 given console.
400
401`task_profiles <profile> [ <profile>\* ]`
402> Set task profiles. Before Android U, the profiles are applied to the main thread of the service.
403 For Android U and later, the profiles are applied to the entire service process. This is designed
404 to replace the use of writepid option for moving a process into a cgroup.
405
406`timeout_period <seconds>`
407> Provide a timeout after which point the service will be killed. The oneshot keyword is respected
408 here, so oneshot services do not automatically restart, however all other services will.
409 This is particularly useful for creating a periodic service combined with the restart_period
410 option described above.
411
412`updatable`
413> Mark that the service can be overridden (via the 'override' option) later in
414 the boot sequence by APEXes. When a service with updatable option is started
415 before APEXes are all activated, the execution is delayed until the activation
416 is finished. A service that is not marked as updatable cannot be overridden by
417 APEXes.
418
419`user <username>`
420> Change to 'username' before exec'ing this service.
421 Currently defaults to root. (??? probably should default to nobody)
422 As of Android M, processes should use this option even if they
423 require Linux capabilities. Previously, to acquire Linux
424 capabilities, a process would need to run as root, request the
425 capabilities, then drop to its desired uid. There is a new
426 mechanism through fs\_config that allows device manufacturers to add
427 Linux capabilities to specific binaries on a file system that should
428 be used instead. This mechanism is described on
429 <http://source.android.com/devices/tech/config/filesystem.html>. When
430 using this new mechanism, processes can use the user option to
431 select their desired uid without ever running as root.
432 As of Android O, processes can also request capabilities directly in their .rc
433 files. See the "capabilities" option above.
434
435`writepid <file> [ <file>\* ]`
436> Write the child's pid to the given files when it forks. Meant for
437 cgroup/cpuset usage. If no files under /dev/cpuset/ are specified, but the
438 system property 'ro.cpuset.default' is set to a non-empty cpuset name (e.g.
439 '/foreground'), then the pid is written to file /dev/cpuset/_cpuset\_name_/tasks.
440 The use of this option for moving a process into a cgroup is obsolete. Please
441 use task_profiles option instead.
442
443
444Triggers
445--------
446Triggers are strings which can be used to match certain kinds of
447events and used to cause an action to occur.
448
449Triggers are subdivided into event triggers and property triggers.
450
451Event triggers are strings triggered by the 'trigger' command or by
452the QueueEventTrigger() function within the init executable. These
453take the form of a simple string such as 'boot' or 'late-init'.
454
455Property triggers are strings triggered when a named property changes
456value to a given new value or when a named property changes value to
457any new value. These take the form of 'property:<name>=<value>' and
458'property:<name>=\*' respectively. Property triggers are additionally
459evaluated and triggered accordingly during the initial boot phase of
460init.
461
462An Action can have multiple property triggers but may only have one
463event trigger.
464
465For example:
466`on boot && property:a=b` defines an action that is only executed when
467the 'boot' event trigger happens and the property a equals b at the moment. This
468will NOT be executed when the property a transitions to value b after the `boot`
469event was triggered.
470
471`on property:a=b && property:c=d` defines an action that is executed
472at three times:
473
474 1. During initial boot if property a=b and property c=d.
475 2. Any time that property a transitions to value b, while property c already equals d.
476 3. Any time that property c transitions to value d, while property a already equals b.
477
478
479Trigger Sequence
480----------------
481
482Init uses the following sequence of triggers during early boot. These are the
483built-in triggers defined in init.cpp.
484
485 1. `early-init` - The first in the sequence, triggered after cgroups has been configured
486 but before ueventd's coldboot is complete.
487 2. `init` - Triggered after coldboot is complete.
488 3. `charger` - Triggered if `ro.bootmode == "charger"`.
489 4. `late-init` - Triggered if `ro.bootmode != "charger"`, or via healthd triggering a boot
490 from charging mode.
491
492Remaining triggers are configured in `init.rc` and are not built-in. The default sequence for
493these is specified under the "on late-init" event in `init.rc`. Actions internal to `init.rc`
494have been omitted.
495
496 1. `early-fs` - Start vold.
497 2. `fs` - Vold is up. Mount partitions not marked as first-stage or latemounted.
498 3. `post-fs` - Configure anything dependent on early mounts.
499 4. `late-fs` - Mount partitions marked as latemounted.
500 5. `post-fs-data` - Mount and configure `/data`; set up encryption. `/metadata` is
501 reformatted here if it couldn't mount in first-stage init.
502 6. `zygote-start` - Start the zygote.
503 7. `early-boot` - After zygote has started.
504 8. `boot` - After `early-boot` actions have completed.
505
506Commands
507--------
508
509`bootchart [start|stop]`
510> Start/stop bootcharting. These are present in the default init.rc files,
511 but bootcharting is only active if the file /data/bootchart/enabled exists;
512 otherwise bootchart start/stop are no-ops.
513
514`chmod <octal-mode> <path>`
515> Change file access permissions.
516
517`chown <owner> <group> <path>`
518> Change file owner and group.
519
520`class_start <serviceclass>`
521> Start all services of the specified class if they are
522 not already running. See the start entry for more information on
523 starting services.
524
525`class_stop <serviceclass>`
526> Stop and disable all services of the specified class if they are
527 currently running.
528
529`class_reset <serviceclass>`
530> Stop all services of the specified class if they are
531 currently running, without disabling them. They can be restarted
532 later using `class_start`.
533
534`class_restart [--only-enabled] <serviceclass>`
535> Restarts all services of the specified class. If `--only-enabled` is
536 specified, then disabled services are skipped.
537
538`copy <src> <dst>`
539> Copies a file. Similar to write, but useful for binary/large
540 amounts of data.
541 Regarding to the src file, copying from symbolic link file and world-writable
542 or group-writable files are not allowed.
543 Regarding to the dst file, the default mode created is 0600 if it does not
544 exist. And it will be truncated if dst file is a normal regular file and
545 already exists.
546
547`copy_per_line <src> <dst>`
548> Copies a file line by line. Similar to copy, but useful for dst is a sysfs node
549 that doesn't handle multiple lines of data.
550
551`domainname <name>`
552> Set the domain name.
553
554`enable <servicename>`
555> Turns a disabled service into an enabled one as if the service did not
556 specify disabled.
557 If the service is supposed to be running, it will be started now.
558 Typically used when the bootloader sets a variable that indicates a specific
559 service should be started when needed. E.g.
560
561 on property:ro.boot.myfancyhardware=1
562 enable my_fancy_service_for_my_fancy_hardware
563
564`exec [ <seclabel> [ <user> [ <group>\* ] ] ] -- <command> [ <argument>\* ]`
565> Fork and execute command with the given arguments. The command starts
566 after "--" so that an optional security context, user, and supplementary
567 groups can be provided. No other commands will be run until this one
568 finishes. _seclabel_ can be a - to denote default. Properties are expanded
569 within _argument_.
570 Init halts executing commands until the forked process exits.
571
572`exec_background [ <seclabel> [ <user> [ <group>\* ] ] ] -- <command> [ <argument>\* ]`
573> Fork and execute command with the given arguments. This is handled similarly
574 to the `exec` command. The difference is that init does not halt executing
575 commands until the process exits for `exec_background`.
576
577`exec_start <service>`
578> Start a given service and halt the processing of additional init commands
579 until it returns. The command functions similarly to the `exec` command,
580 but uses an existing service definition in place of the exec argument vector.
581
582`export <name> <value>`
583> Set the environment variable _name_ equal to _value_ in the
584 global environment (which will be inherited by all processes
585 started after this command is executed)
586
587`hostname <name>`
588> Set the host name.
589
590`ifup <interface>`
591> Bring the network interface _interface_ online.
592
593`insmod [-f] <path> [<options>]`
594> Install the module at _path_ with the specified options.
595 -f: force installation of the module even if the version of the running kernel
596 and the version of the kernel for which the module was compiled do not match.
597
598`interface_start <name>` \
599`interface_restart <name>` \
600`interface_stop <name>`
601> Find the service that provides the interface _name_ if it exists and run the `start`, `restart`,
602or `stop` commands on it respectively. _name_ may be either a fully qualified HIDL name, in which
603case it is specified as `<interface>/<instance>`, or an AIDL name, in which case it is specified as
604`aidl/<interface>` for example `android.hardware.secure_element@1.1::ISecureElement/eSE1` or
605`aidl/aidl_lazy_test_1`.
606
607> Note that these commands only act on interfaces specified by the `interface` service option, not
608on interfaces registered at runtime.
609
610> Example usage of these commands: \
611`interface_start android.hardware.secure_element@1.1::ISecureElement/eSE1`
612will start the HIDL Service that provides the `android.hardware.secure_element@1.1` and `eSI1`
613instance. \
614`interface_start aidl/aidl_lazy_test_1` will start the AIDL service that
615provides the `aidl_lazy_test_1` interface.
616
617`load_exports <path>`
618> Open the file at _path_ and export global environment variables declared
619 there. Each line must be in the format `export <name> <value>`, as described
620 above.
621
622`load_system_props`
623> (This action is deprecated and no-op.)
624
625`load_persist_props`
626> Loads persistent properties when /data has been decrypted.
627 This is included in the default init.rc.
628
629`loglevel <level>`
630> Sets init's log level to the integer level, from 7 (all logging) to 0
631 (fatal logging only). The numeric values correspond to the kernel log
632 levels, but this command does not affect the kernel log level. Use the
633 `write` command to write to `/proc/sys/kernel/printk` to change that.
634 Properties are expanded within _level_.
635
636`mark_post_data`
637> Used to mark the point right after /data is mounted.
638
639`mkdir <path> [<mode>] [<owner>] [<group>] [encryption=<action>] [key=<key>]`
640> Create a directory at _path_, optionally with the given mode, owner, and
641 group. If not provided, the directory is created with permissions 755 and
642 owned by the root user and root group. If provided, the mode, owner and group
643 will be updated if the directory exists already.
644 If the directory does not exist, it will receive the security context from
645 the current SELinux policy or its parent if not specified in the policy. If
646 the directory exists, its security context will not be changed (even if
647 different from the policy).
648>
649> _action_ can be one of:
650> * `None`: take no encryption action; directory will be encrypted if parent is.
651> * `Require`: encrypt directory, abort boot process if encryption fails
652> * `Attempt`: try to set an encryption policy, but continue if it fails
653> * `DeleteIfNecessary`: recursively delete directory if necessary to set
654> encryption policy.
655>
656> _key_ can be one of:
657> * `ref`: use the systemwide DE key
658> * `per_boot_ref`: use the key freshly generated on each boot.
659
660`mount_all [ <fstab> ] [--<option>]`
661> Calls fs\_mgr\_mount\_all on the given fs\_mgr-format fstab with optional
662 options "early" and "late".
663 With "--early" set, the init executable will skip mounting entries with
664 "latemount" flag and triggering fs encryption state event. With "--late" set,
665 init executable will only mount entries with "latemount" flag. By default,
666 no option is set, and mount\_all will process all entries in the given fstab.
667 If the fstab parameter is not specified, fstab.${ro.boot.fstab_suffix},
668 fstab.${ro.hardware} or fstab.${ro.hardware.platform} will be scanned for
669 under /odm/etc, /vendor/etc, or / at runtime, in that order.
670
671`mount <type> <device> <dir> [ <flag>\* ] [<options>]`
672> Attempt to mount the named device at the directory _dir_
673 _flag_s include "ro", "rw", "remount", "noatime", ...
674 _options_ include "barrier=1", "noauto\_da\_alloc", "discard", ... as
675 a comma separated string, e.g. barrier=1,noauto\_da\_alloc
676
677`perform_apex_config [--bootstrap]`
678> Performs tasks after APEXes are mounted. For example, creates data directories
679 for the mounted APEXes, parses config file(s) from them, and updates linker
680 configurations. Intended to be used only once when apexd notifies the mount
681 event by setting `apexd.status` to ready.
682 Use --bootstrap when invoking in the bootstrap mount namespace.
683
684`restart [--only-if-running] <service>`
685> Stops and restarts a running service, does nothing if the service is currently
686 restarting, otherwise, it just starts the service. If "--only-if-running" is
687 specified, the service is only restarted if it is already running.
688
689`restorecon <path> [ <path>\* ]`
690> Restore the file named by _path_ to the security context specified
691 in the file\_contexts configuration.
692 Not required for directories created by the init.rc as these are
693 automatically labeled correctly by init.
694
695`restorecon_recursive <path> [ <path>\* ]`
696> Recursively restore the directory tree named by _path_ to the
697 security contexts specified in the file\_contexts configuration.
698
699`rm <path>`
700> Calls unlink(2) on the given path. You might want to
701 use "exec -- rm ..." instead (provided the system partition is
702 already mounted).
703
704`rmdir <path>`
705> Calls rmdir(2) on the given path.
706
707`readahead <file|dir> [--fully]`
708> Calls readahead(2) on the file or files within given directory.
709 Use option --fully to read the full file content.
710
711`setprop <name> <value>`
712> Set system property _name_ to _value_. Properties are expanded
713 within _value_.
714
715`setrlimit <resource> <cur> <max>`
716> Set the rlimit for a resource. This applies to all processes launched after
717 the limit is set. It is intended to be set early in init and applied globally.
718 _resource_ is best specified using its text representation ('cpu', 'rtio', etc
719 or 'RLIM_CPU', 'RLIM_RTIO', etc). It also may be specified as the int value
720 that the resource enum corresponds to.
721 _cur_ and _max_ can be 'unlimited' or '-1' to indicate an infinite rlimit.
722
723`start <service>`
724> Start a service running if it is not already running.
725 Note that this is _not_ synchronous, and even if it were, there is
726 no guarantee that the operating system's scheduler will execute the
727 service sufficiently to guarantee anything about the service's status.
728 See the `exec_start` command for a synchronous version of `start`.
729
730> This creates an important consequence that if the service offers
731 functionality to other services, such as providing a
732 communication channel, simply starting this service before those
733 services is _not_ sufficient to guarantee that the channel has
734 been set up before those services ask for it. There must be a
735 separate mechanism to make any such guarantees.
736
737`stop <service>`
738> Stop a service from running if it is currently running.
739
740`swapon_all [ <fstab> ]`
741> Calls fs\_mgr\_swapon\_all on the given fstab file.
742 If the fstab parameter is not specified, fstab.${ro.boot.fstab_suffix},
743 fstab.${ro.hardware} or fstab.${ro.hardware.platform} will be scanned for
744 under /odm/etc, /vendor/etc, or / at runtime, in that order.
745
746`symlink <target> <path>`
747> Create a symbolic link at _path_ with the value _target_
748
749`sysclktz <minutes_west_of_gmt>`
750> Set the system clock base (0 if system clock ticks in GMT)
751
752`trigger <event>`
753> Trigger an event. Used to queue an action from another
754 action.
755
756`umount <path>`
757> Unmount the filesystem mounted at that path.
758
759`umount_all [ <fstab> ]`
760> Calls fs\_mgr\_umount\_all on the given fstab file.
761 If the fstab parameter is not specified, fstab.${ro.boot.fstab_suffix},
762 fstab.${ro.hardware} or fstab.${ro.hardware.platform} will be scanned for
763 under /odm/etc, /vendor/etc, or / at runtime, in that order.
764
765`verity_update_state`
766> Internal implementation detail used to update dm-verity state and
767 set the partition._mount-point_.verified properties used by adb remount
768 because fs\_mgr can't set them directly itself. This is required since
769 Android 12, because CtsNativeVerifiedBootTestCases will read property
770 "partition.${partition}.verified.hash_alg" to check that sha1 is not used.
771 See https://r.android.com/1546980 for more details.
772
773`wait <path> [ <timeout> ]`
774> Poll for the existence of the given file and return when found,
775 or the timeout has been reached. If timeout is not specified it
776 currently defaults to five seconds. The timeout value can be
777 fractional seconds, specified in floating point notation.
778
779`wait_for_prop <name> <value>`
780> Wait for system property _name_ to be _value_. Properties are expanded
781 within _value_. If property _name_ is already set to _value_, continue
782 immediately.
783
784`write <path> <content>`
785> Open the file at _path_ and write a string to it with write(2).
786 If the file does not exist, it will be created. If it does exist,
787 it will be truncated. Properties are expanded within _content_.
788
789
790Imports
791-------
792`import <path>`
793> Parse an init config file, extending the current configuration.
794 If _path_ is a directory, each file in the directory is parsed as
795 a config file. It is not recursive, nested directories will
796 not be parsed.
797
798The import keyword is not a command, but rather its own section,
799meaning that it does not happen as part of an Action, but rather,
800imports are handled as a file is being parsed and follow the below logic.
801
802There are only three times where the init executable imports .rc files:
803
804 1. When it imports `/system/etc/init/hw/init.rc` or the script indicated by the property
805 `ro.boot.init_rc` during initial boot.
806 2. When it imports `/{system,system_ext,vendor,odm,product}/etc/init/` immediately after
807 importing `/system/etc/init/hw/init.rc`.
808 3. (Deprecated) When it imports /{system,vendor,odm}/etc/init/ or .rc files
809 at specified paths during mount_all, not allowed for devices launching
810 after Q.
811
812The order that files are imported is a bit complex for legacy reasons. The below is guaranteed:
813
8141. `/system/etc/init/hw/init.rc` is parsed then recursively each of its imports are
815 parsed.
8162. The contents of `/system/etc/init/` are alphabetized and parsed sequentially, with imports
817 happening recursively after each file is parsed.
8183. Step 2 is repeated for `/system_ext/etc/init`, `/vendor/etc/init`, `/odm/etc/init`,
819 `/product/etc/init`
820
821The below pseudocode may explain this more clearly:
822
823 fn Import(file)
824 Parse(file)
825 for (import : file.imports)
826 Import(import)
827
828 Import(/system/etc/init/hw/init.rc)
829 Directories = [/system/etc/init, /system_ext/etc/init, /vendor/etc/init, /odm/etc/init, /product/etc/init]
830 for (directory : Directories)
831 files = <Alphabetical order of directory's contents>
832 for (file : files)
833 Import(file)
834
835Actions are executed in the order that they are parsed. For example the `post-fs-data` action(s)
836in `/system/etc/init/hw/init.rc` are always the first `post-fs-data` action(s) to be executed in
837order of how they appear in that file. Then the `post-fs-data` actions of the imports of
838`/system/etc/init/hw/init.rc` in the order that they're imported, etc.
839
840Properties
841----------
842Init provides state information with the following properties.
843
844`init.svc.<name>`
845> State of a named service ("stopped", "stopping", "running", "restarting")
846
847`dev.mnt.dev.<mount_point>`, `dev.mnt.blk.<mount_point>`, `dev.mnt.rootdisk.<mount_point>`
848> Block device base name associated with a *mount_point*.
849 The *mount_point* has / replaced by . and if referencing the root mount point
850 "/", it will use "/root".
851 `dev.mnt.dev.<mount_point>` indicates a block device attached to filesystems.
852 (e.g., dm-N or sdaN/mmcblk0pN to access `/sys/fs/ext4/${dev.mnt.dev.<mount_point>}/`)
853
854 `dev.mnt.blk.<mount_point>` indicates the disk partition to the above block device.
855 (e.g., sdaN / mmcblk0pN to access `/sys/class/block/${dev.mnt.blk.<mount_point>}/`)
856
857 `dev.mnt.rootdisk.<mount_point>` indicates the root disk to contain the above disk partition.
858 (e.g., sda / mmcblk0 to access `/sys/class/block/${dev.mnt.rootdisk.<mount_point>}/queue`)
859
860Init responds to properties that begin with `ctl.`. These properties take the format of
861`ctl.[<target>_]<command>` and the _value_ of the system property is used as a parameter. The
862_target_ is optional and specifies the service option that _value_ is meant to match with. There is
863only one option for _target_, `interface` which indicates that _value_ will refer to an interface
864that a service provides and not the service name itself.
865
866For example:
867
868`SetProperty("ctl.start", "logd")` will run the `start` command on `logd`.
869
870`SetProperty("ctl.interface_start", "aidl/aidl_lazy_test_1")` will run the `start` command on the
871service that exposes the `aidl aidl_lazy_test_1` interface.
872
873Note that these
874properties are only settable; they will have no value when read.
875
876The _commands_ are listed below.
877
878`start` \
879`restart` \
880`stop` \
881These are equivalent to using the `start`, `restart`, and `stop` commands on the service specified
882by the _value_ of the property.
883
884`oneshot_on` and `oneshot_off` will turn on or off the _oneshot_
885flag for the service specified by the _value_ of the property. This is
886particularly intended for services that are conditionally lazy HALs. When
887they are lazy HALs, oneshot must be on, otherwise oneshot should be off.
888
889`sigstop_on` and `sigstop_off` will turn on or off the _sigstop_ feature for the service
890specified by the _value_ of the property. See the _Debugging init_ section below for more details
891about this feature.
892
893Boot timing
894-----------
895Init records some boot timing information in system properties.
896
897`ro.boottime.init`
898> Time after boot in ns (via the CLOCK\_BOOTTIME clock) at which the first
899 stage of init started.
900
901`ro.boottime.init.first_stage`
902> How long in ns it took to run first stage.
903
904`ro.boottime.init.selinux`
905> How long in ns it took to run SELinux stage.
906
907`ro.boottime.init.modules`
908> How long in ms it took to load kernel modules.
909
910`ro.boottime.init.cold_boot_wait`
911> How long init waited for ueventd's coldboot phase to end.
912
913`ro.boottime.<service-name>`
914> Time after boot in ns (via the CLOCK\_BOOTTIME clock) that the service was
915 first started.
916
917
918Bootcharting
919------------
920This version of init contains code to perform "bootcharting": generating log
921files that can be later processed by the tools provided by <http://www.bootchart.org/>.
922
923On the emulator, use the -bootchart _timeout_ option to boot with bootcharting
924activated for _timeout_ seconds.
925
926On a device:
927
928 adb shell 'touch /data/bootchart/enabled'
929
930Don't forget to delete this file when you're done collecting data!
931
932The log files are written to /data/bootchart/. A script is provided to
933retrieve them and create a bootchart.tgz file that can be used with the
934bootchart command-line utility:
935
936 sudo apt-get install pybootchartgui
937 # grab-bootchart.sh uses $ANDROID_SERIAL.
938 $ANDROID_BUILD_TOP/system/core/init/grab-bootchart.sh
939
940One thing to watch for is that the bootchart will show init as if it started
941running at 0s. You'll have to look at dmesg to work out when the kernel
942actually started init.
943
944
945Comparing two bootcharts
946------------------------
947A handy script named compare-bootcharts.py can be used to compare the
948start/end time of selected processes. The aforementioned grab-bootchart.sh
949will leave a bootchart tarball named bootchart.tgz at /tmp/android-bootchart.
950If two such tarballs are preserved on the host machine under different
951directories, the script can list the timestamps differences. For example:
952
953Usage: system/core/init/compare-bootcharts.py _base-bootchart-dir_ _exp-bootchart-dir_
954
955 process: baseline experiment (delta) - Unit is ms (a jiffy is 10 ms on the system)
956 ------------------------------------
957 /init: 50 40 (-10)
958 /system/bin/surfaceflinger: 4320 4470 (+150)
959 /system/bin/bootanimation: 6980 6990 (+10)
960 zygote64: 10410 10640 (+230)
961 zygote: 10410 10640 (+230)
962 system_server: 15350 15150 (-200)
963 bootanimation ends at: 33790 31230 (-2560)
964
965
966Systrace
967--------
968Systrace (<http://developer.android.com/tools/help/systrace.html>) can be
969used for obtaining performance analysis reports during boot
970time on userdebug or eng builds.
971
972Here is an example of trace events of "wm" and "am" categories:
973
974 $ANDROID_BUILD_TOP/external/chromium-trace/systrace.py \
975 wm am --boot
976
977This command will cause the device to reboot. After the device is rebooted and
978the boot sequence has finished, the trace report is obtained from the device
979and written as trace.html on the host by hitting Ctrl+C.
980
981Limitation: recording trace events is started after persistent properties are loaded, so
982the trace events that are emitted before that are not recorded. Several
983services such as vold, surfaceflinger, and servicemanager are affected by this
984limitation since they are started before persistent properties are loaded.
985Zygote initialization and the processes that are forked from the zygote are not
986affected.
987
988
989Debugging init
990--------------
991When a service starts from init, it may fail to `execv()` the service. This is not typical, and may
992point to an error happening in the linker as the new service is started. The linker in Android
993prints its logs to `logd` and `stderr`, so they are visible in `logcat`. If the error is encountered
994before it is possible to access `logcat`, the `stdio_to_kmsg` service option may be used to direct
995the logs that the linker prints to `stderr` to `kmsg`, where they can be read via a serial port.
996
997Launching init services without init is not recommended as init sets up a significant amount of
998environment (user, groups, security label, capabilities, etc) that is hard to replicate manually.
999
1000If it is required to debug a service from its very start, the `sigstop` service option is added.
1001This option will send SIGSTOP to a service immediately before calling exec. This gives a window
1002where developers can attach a debugger, strace, etc before continuing the service with SIGCONT.
1003
1004This flag can also be dynamically controlled via the ctl.sigstop_on and ctl.sigstop_off properties.
1005
1006Below is an example of dynamically debugging logd via the above:
1007
1008 stop logd
1009 setprop ctl.sigstop_on logd
1010 start logd
1011 ps -e | grep logd
1012 > logd 4343 1 18156 1684 do_signal_stop 538280 T init
1013 gdbclient.py -p 4343
1014 b main
1015 c
1016 c
1017 c
1018 > Breakpoint 1, main (argc=1, argv=0x7ff8c9a488) at system/core/logd/main.cpp:427
1019
1020Below is an example of doing the same but with strace
1021
1022 stop logd
1023 setprop ctl.sigstop_on logd
1024 start logd
1025 ps -e | grep logd
1026 > logd 4343 1 18156 1684 do_signal_stop 538280 T init
1027 strace -p 4343
1028
1029 (From a different shell)
1030 kill -SIGCONT 4343
1031
1032 > strace runs
1033
1034Host Init Script Verification
1035-----------------------------
1036
1037Init scripts are checked for correctness during build time. Specifically the below is checked.
1038
10391) Well formatted action, service and import sections, e.g. no actions without a preceding 'on'
1040line, and no extraneous lines after an 'import' statement.
10412) All commands map to a valid keyword and the argument count is within the correct range.
10423) All service options are valid. This is stricter than how commands are checked as the service
1043options' arguments are fully parsed, e.g. UIDs and GIDs must resolve.
1044
1045There are other parts of init scripts that are only parsed at runtime and therefore not checked
1046during build time, among them are the below.
1047
10481) The validity of the arguments of commands, e.g. no checking if file paths actually exist, if
1049SELinux would permit the operation, or if the UIDs and GIDs resolve.
10502) No checking if a service exists or has a valid SELinux domain defined
10513) No checking if a service has not been previously defined in a different init script.
1052
1053Early Init Boot Sequence
1054------------------------
1055The early init boot sequence is broken up into three stages: first stage init, SELinux setup, and
1056second stage init.
1057
1058First stage init is responsible for setting up the bare minimum requirements to load the rest of the
1059system. Specifically this includes mounting /dev, /proc, mounting 'early mount' partitions (which
1060needs to include all partitions that contain system code, for example system and vendor), and moving
1061the system.img mount to / for devices with a ramdisk.
1062
1063Note that in Android Q, system.img always contains TARGET_ROOT_OUT and always is mounted at / by the
1064time first stage init finishes. Android Q will also require dynamic partitions and therefore will
1065require using a ramdisk to boot Android. The recovery ramdisk can be used to boot to Android instead
1066of a dedicated ramdisk as well.
1067
1068First stage init has three variations depending on the device configuration:
10691) For system-as-root devices, first stage init is part of /system/bin/init and a symlink at /init
1070points to /system/bin/init for backwards compatibility. These devices do not need to do anything to
1071mount system.img, since it is by definition already mounted as the rootfs by the kernel.
1072
10732) For devices with a ramdisk, first stage init is a static executable located at /init. These
1074devices mount system.img as /system then perform a switch root operation to move the mount at
1075/system to /. The contents of the ramdisk are freed after mounting has completed.
1076
10773) For devices that use recovery as a ramdisk, first stage init it contained within the shared init
1078located at /init within the recovery ramdisk. These devices first switch root to
1079/first_stage_ramdisk to remove the recovery components from the environment, then proceed the same
1080as 2). Note that the decision to boot normally into Android instead of booting
1081into recovery mode is made if androidboot.force_normal_boot=1 is present in the
1082kernel commandline, or in bootconfig with Android S and later.
1083
1084Once first stage init finishes it execs /system/bin/init with the "selinux_setup" argument. This
1085phase is where SELinux is optionally compiled and loaded onto the system. selinux.cpp contains more
1086information on the specifics of this process.
1087
1088Lastly once that phase finishes, it execs /system/bin/init again with the "second_stage"
1089argument. At this point the main phase of init runs and continues the boot process via the init.rc
1090scripts.
1091
README.ueventd.md
1# Ueventd
2-------
3Ueventd manages `/dev`, sets permissions for `/sys`, and handles firmware uevents. It has default
4behavior described below, along with a scripting language that allows customizing this behavior,
5built on the same parser as init.
6
7Ueventd has one generic customization parameter, the size of rcvbuf_size for the ueventd socket. It
8is customized by the `uevent_socket_rcvbuf_size` parameter, which takes the format of
9
10 uevent_socket_rcvbuf_size <size>
11For example
12
13 uevent_socket_rcvbuf_size 16M
14Sets the uevent socket rcvbuf_size to 16 megabytes.
15
16## Importing configuration files
17--------------------------------
18Ueventd reads /system/etc/ueventd.rc, all other files are imported via the `import` command, which
19takes the format of
20
21 import <path>
22This command parses an ueventd config file, extending the current configuration. If _path_ is a
23directory, each file in the directory is parsed as a config file. It is not recursive, nested
24directories will not be parsed. Imported files are parsed after the current file has been parsed.
25
26## /dev
27----
28Ueventd listens to the kernel uevent sockets and creates/deletes nodes in `/dev` based on the
29incoming add/remove uevents. It defaults to using `0600` mode and `root` user/group. It always
30creates the nodes with the SELabel from the current loaded SEPolicy. It has three default behaviors
31for the node path:
32
33 1. Block devices are created as `/dev/block/<basename uevent DEVPATH>`. There are symlinks created
34 to this node at `/dev/block/<type>/<parent device>/<basename uevent DEVPATH>`,
35 `/dev/block/<type>/<parent device>/by-name/<uevent PARTNAME>`, and `/dev/block/by-name/<uevent
36 PARTNAME>` if the device is a boot device.
37 2. USB devices are created as `/dev/<uevent DEVNAME>` if `DEVNAME` was specified for the uevent,
38 otherwise as `/dev/bus/usb/<bus_id>/<device_id>` where `bus_id` is `uevent MINOR / 128 + 1` and
39 `device_id` is `uevent MINOR % 128 + 1`.
40 3. All other devices are created as `/dev/<basename uevent DEVPATH>`
41
42The permissions can be modified using a ueventd.rc script and a line that beings with `/dev`. These
43lines take the format of
44
45 devname mode uid gid [options]
46For example
47
48 /dev/null 0666 root root
49When `/dev/null` is created, its mode will be set to `0666`, its user to `root` and its group to
50`root`.
51
52The path can be modified using a ueventd.rc script and a `subsystem` section. There are three to set
53for a subsystem: the subsystem name, which device name to use, and which directory to place the
54device in. The section takes the below format of
55
56 subsystem <subsystem_name>
57 devname uevent_devname|uevent_devpath
58 [dirname <directory>]
59
60`subsystem_name` is used to match uevent `SUBSYSTEM` value
61
62`devname` takes one of three options
63 1. `uevent_devname` specifies that the name of the node will be the uevent `DEVNAME`
64 2. `uevent_devpath` specifies that the name of the node will be basename uevent `DEVPATH`
65 3. `sys_name` specifies that the name of the node will be the contents of `/sys/DEVPATH/name`
66
67`dirname` is an optional parameter that specifies a directory within `/dev` where the node will be
68created.
69
70For example
71
72 subsystem sound
73 devname uevent_devpath
74 dirname /dev/snd
75Indicates that all uevents with `SUBSYSTEM=sound` will create nodes as `/dev/snd/<basename uevent
76DEVPATH>`.
77
78## /sys
79----
80Ueventd by default takes no action for `/sys`, however it can be instructed to set permissions for
81certain files in `/sys` when matching uevents are generated. This is done using a ueventd.rc script
82and a line that begins with `/sys`. These lines take the format of
83
84 nodename attr mode uid gid [options]
85For example
86
87 /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu* cpufreq/scaling_max_freq 0664 system system
88When a uevent that matches the pattern `/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*` is sent, the matching sysfs
89attribute, `cpufreq/scaling_max_freq`, will have its mode set to `0664`, its user to to `system` and
90its group set to `system`.
91
92## Path matching
93----------------
94The path for a `/dev` or `/sys` entry can contain a `*` anywhere in the path.
951. If the only `*` appears at the end of the string or if the _options_ parameter is set to
96`no_fnm_pathname`, ueventd matches the entry by `fnmatch(entry_path, incoming_path, 0)`
972. Otherwise, ueventd matches the entry by `fnmatch(entry_path, incoming_path, FNM_PATHNAME)`
98
99See the [man page for fnmatch](https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/fnmatch.3.html) for more
100details.
101
102## Firmware loading
103----------------
104Ueventd by default serves firmware requests by searching through a list of firmware directories
105for a file matching the uevent `FIRMWARE`. It then forks a process to serve this firmware to the
106kernel.
107
108`/apex/*/etc/firmware` is also searched after a list of firmware directories.
109
110The list of firmware directories is customized by a `firmware_directories` line in a ueventd.rc
111file. This line takes the format of
112
113 firmware_directories <firmware_directory> [ <firmware_directory> ]*
114For example
115
116 firmware_directories /etc/firmware/ /odm/firmware/ /vendor/firmware/ /firmware/image/
117Adds those 4 directories, in that order to the list of firmware directories that will be tried by
118ueventd. Note that this option always accumulates to the list; it is not possible to remove previous
119entries.
120
121Ueventd will wait until after `post-fs` in init, to keep retrying before believing the firmwares are
122not present.
123
124The exact firmware file to be served can be customized by running an external program by a
125`external_firmware_handler` line in a ueventd.rc file. This line takes the format of
126
127 external_firmware_handler <devpath> <user [group]> <path to external program>
128
129The handler will be run as the given user, or if a group is provided, as the given user and group.
130
131For example
132
133 external_firmware_handler /devices/leds/red/firmware/coeffs.bin system /vendor/bin/led_coeffs.bin
134Will launch `/vendor/bin/led_coeffs.bin` as the system user instead of serving the default firmware
135for `/devices/leds/red/firmware/coeffs.bin`.
136
137The `devpath` argument may include asterisks (`*`) to match multiple paths. For example, the string
138`/dev/*/red` will match `/dev/leds/red` as well as `/dev/lights/red`. The pattern matching follows
139the rules of the fnmatch() function.
140
141Ueventd will provide the uevent `DEVPATH` and `FIRMWARE` to this external program on the environment
142via environment variables with the same names. Ueventd will use the string written to stdout as the
143new name of the firmware to load. It will still look for the new firmware in the list of firmware
144directories stated above. It will also reject file names with `..` in them, to prevent leaving these
145directories. If stdout cannot be read, or the program returns with any exit code other than
146`EXIT_SUCCESS`, or the program crashes, the default firmware from the uevent will be loaded.
147
148Ueventd will additionally log all messages sent to stderr from the external program to the serial
149console after the external program has exited.
150
151If the kernel command-line argument `firmware_class.path` is set, this path
152will be used first by the kernel to search for the firmware files. If found,
153ueventd will not be called at all. See the
154[kernel documentation](https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v5.10/driver-api/firmware/fw_search_path.html)
155for more details on this feature.
156
157## Coldboot
158--------
159Ueventd must create devices in `/dev` for all devices that have already sent their uevents before
160ueventd has started. To do so, when ueventd is started it does what it calls a 'coldboot' on `/sys`,
161in which it writes 'add' to every 'uevent' file that it finds in `/sys/class`, `/sys/block`, and
162`/sys/devices`. This causes the kernel to regenerate the uevents for these paths, and thus for
163ueventd to create the nodes.
164
165For boot time purposes, this is done in parallel across a set of child processes. `ueventd.cpp` in
166this directory contains documentation on how the parallelization is done.
167
168There is an option to parallelize the restorecon function during cold boot as well. It is
169recommended that devices use genfscon for labeling sysfs nodes. However, some devices may benefit
170from enabling the parallelization option:
171
172 parallel_restorecon enabled
173
174Do parallel restorecon to speed up boot process, subdirectories under `/sys`
175can be sliced by ueventd.rc, and run on multiple process.
176 parallel_restorecon_dir <directory>
177
178For example
179 parallel_restorecon_dir /sys
180 parallel_restorecon_dir /sys/devices
181 parallel_restorecon_dir /sys/devices/platform
182 parallel_restorecon_dir /sys/devices/platform/soc
183