RC.D(8) | System Manager's Manual | RC.D(8)

# NAME

`rc.d` — daemon control scripts

# SYNOPSIS

`/etc/rc.d/daemon` | [`-d` | `-q`] [`-f`] action

# DESCRIPTION

The /etc/rc.d directory contains ksh(1) scripts to start, stop, and reconfigure daemon programs (“services”).

Services installed from packages(7) may be started at boot time in the order specified by the pkg_scripts variable from rc.conf(8); the order will be reversed during shutdown. Services comprising OpenBSD base are started by rc(8).

The options are as follows:

`-d`
  Setting this option will print the function names as they are called and prevent the rc.subr(8) framework from redirecting stdout and stderr to /dev/null. This is used to allow debugging of failed actions.
`-f`
  This option only affects the `start` action. It will forcibly start the daemon whatever value daemon_flags is set to. If daemon_flags is set to “NO”, execution will continue with the script's own defaults unless other flags are specified.
`-q`
  Quiet mode. Only display the script name and the result of the action on error.

Each such script responds to the following actions:

`start`
  Start the service, if not already running.
`stop`
  Stop the service.
`reload`
  Tell the daemon to reload its configuration.
`restart`
  Perform a stop, then a start.
`check`
  Return 0 if the daemon is running or 1 if it is not.
`configtest`
  Check that the daemon configuration is valid.

# ENVIRONMENT

Daemon control scripts use a fixed number of ksh(1) variables when starting a daemon. The following can be overridden by site-specific values provided in rc.conf.local(8):

daemon_execdir
  Run daemon from the specified directory.
daemon_flags
  Additional arguments to call the daemon with. These will be appended to any mandatory arguments already contained in the daemon variable defined in the control script. If daemon_flags is set to “NO”, it will prevent the daemon from starting even when listed in pkg_scripts.
daemon_logger
  Redirect standard output and error to logger(1) using the configured priority (e.g. "daemon.info").
daemon_rtable
  Routing table to run the daemon under, using route(8).
daemon_timeout
  Maximum time in seconds to wait for the `start`, `stop` and `reload` actions to return. This is only guaranteed with the default `rc_start`, `rc_stop` and `rc_reload` functions.
daemon_user
  User to run the daemon as, using su(1).

To obtain the actual variable names, replace daemon with the name of the script. For example, postgres is managed through /etc/rc.d/postgresql:

`daemon_flags=-D /var/postgresql/data -w -l /var/postgresql/logfile`

To override this and increase the debug log level (keeping the existing flags), define the following in rc.conf.local(8):

`postgresql_flags=-D /var/postgresql/data -w -l /var/postgresql/logfile -d 5`

Each script may define its own defaults, as explained in rc.subr(8).

daemon_class is a special read-only variable. It is set to “daemon” unless there is a login class configured in login.conf(5) with the same name as the `rc.d` script itself, in which case it will be set to that login class. This allows setting many initial process properties, for example environment variables, scheduling priority, and process limits such as maximum memory use and number of files.

# FILES

/etc/rc.d/
  Directory containing daemon control scripts.
/etc/rc.d/rc.subr
  Functions and variables used by `rc.d` scripts.
/var/run/rc.d/
  Directory containing files recording the variables of currently running daemons. Some are informational and some are for matching daemons using pgrep(1) and pkill(1).

# SEE ALSO

ksh(1), rc(8), rc.conf(8), rc.subr(8), rcctl(8)

# HISTORY

The /etc/rc.d directory first appeared in OpenBSD 4.9.

August 15, 2025 | Debian