Release notes from finit

Finit v4.16

2026-02-27T09:44:15Z

Changes

Add initctl switch-root command and plugin hook point. Useful for
systems requiring early boot tasks like LUKS unlock, LVM activation,
or network boot before mounting the real root, by Aaron Andersen
Set USER and LOGNAME environment variables when dropping privileges.
Fixes issues with software like rootless Podman that determines user
identity from environment variables, by Aaron Andersen
Add remain:yes option for run/task oneshot commands, similar to the
systemd RemainAfterExit=yes, by Aaron Andersen
Clear service conditions on initctl reload NAME to ensure dependent
services are properly updated
Run service stop: and reload: scripts as non-blocking processes,
preventing Finit from stalling on long-running helper scripts
Guard shutdown with timer watchdog to detect and debug shutdown hangs
Add ~ condition prefix to propagate reload from a dependency to the
dependent service. E.g., <!~pid/netd> means not only a regular
condition, but when netd reloads, restart this service too. Similar
to systemd's directive PropagatesReloadTo=, but declared on the
consumer side. Issue #416
tmpfiles: add support for -E and --exclude-prefix flags
contributed by Aaron Andersen

Fixes

Fix #464: invalid user:group examples in cgroups.md
Fix #466: elogind path for Debian-based distros, by Jackie Liu
Fix #467: TTY services stuck in restart state after non-zero exit.
Throttling logic introduced in v4.15 had duplicate checks causing
infinite timer loop, and TTYs lacked default restart timeout
Fix #475: clear pid condition on service collection to fix stale
deps. When a service crashes (SIGKILL), the RUNNING → HALTED path
bypasses STOPPING where cond_clear() is normally called, leaving
dependents stuck
Fix #476: dependents not restarted after SIGHUP reload of service in
dependency chain. Add service_step_all() at end of reload cycle to
guarantee convergence after conditions are reasserted. See also the
new ~ condition prefix (above) to propagate reload to dependents
Fix #478: fix <dev/foo> conditions at boot, conditions that exist
before inotify was set up. Found and fixed by Mattias Walström
Fix reload of SIGHUP-capable services incorrectly disrupting their
dependents. E.g., initctl reload syslogd would stop dbus, dnsmasq,
etc. even though syslogd handles SIGHUP gracefully and its PID persists
Only remove managed pidfiles in service cleanup. For SysV services
with pid:!/path, the pidfile belongs to the service itself and Finit
should not delete it
Silence spurious cgroup warnings for short-lived processes where the
kernel reaps the child before cgroup assignment completes
Fix handling of already-mounted cgroups in cgroup_init(), can occur
after switch_root or in container environments
Improve cgroups documentation clarity, grammar, and examples

Finit v4.16-rc1

2026-02-24T04:45:02Z

Changes

Add initctl switch-root command and plugin hook point. Useful for
systems requiring early boot tasks like LUKS unlock, LVM activation,
or network boot before mounting the real root, by Aaron Andersen
Set USER and LOGNAME environment variables when dropping privileges.
Fixes issues with software like rootless Podman that determines user
identity from environment variables, by Aaron Andersen
Add remain:yes option for run/task oneshot commands, similar to the
systemd RemainAfterExit=yes, by Aaron Andersen
Clear service conditions on initctl reload NAME to ensure dependent
services are properly updated
Run service stop: and reload: scripts as non-blocking processes,
preventing Finit from stalling on long-running helper scripts
Guard shutdown with timer watchdog to detect and debug shutdown hangs
Add ~ condition prefix to propagate reload from a dependency to the
dependent service. E.g., <!~pid/netd> means not only a regular
condition, but when netd reloads, restart this service too. Similar
to systemd's directive PropagatesReloadTo=, but declared on the
consumer side. Issue #416
tmpfiles: add support for -E and --exclude-prefix flags
contributed by Aaron Andersen

Fixes

Fix #464: invalid user:group examples in cgroups.md
Fix #466: elogind path for Debian-based distros, by Jackie Liu
Fix #467: TTY services stuck in restart state after non-zero exit.
Throttling logic introduced in v4.15 had duplicate checks causing
infinite timer loop, and TTYs lacked default restart timeout
Fix #475: clear pid condition on service collection to fix stale
deps. When a service crashes (SIGKILL), the RUNNING → HALTED path
bypasses STOPPING where cond_clear() is normally called, leaving
dependents stuck
Fix #476: dependents not restarted after SIGHUP reload of service in
dependency chain. Add service_step_all() at end of reload cycle to
guarantee convergence after conditions are reasserted. See also the
new ~ condition prefix (above) to propagate reload to dependents
Fix #478: fix <dev/foo> conditions at boot, conditions that exist
before inotify was set up. Found and fixed by Mattias Walström
Fix reload of SIGHUP-capable services incorrectly disrupting their
dependents. E.g., initctl reload syslogd would stop dbus, dnsmasq,
etc. even though syslogd handles SIGHUP gracefully and its PID persists
Only remove managed pidfiles in service cleanup. For SysV services
with pid:!/path, the pidfile belongs to the service itself and Finit
should not delete it
Silence spurious cgroup warnings for short-lived processes where the
kernel reaps the child before cgroup assignment completes
Fix handling of already-mounted cgroups in cgroup_init(), can occur
after switch_root or in container environments
Improve cgroups documentation clarity, grammar, and examples

Finit v4.15

2026-01-01T15:53:29Z

The Finit project now has a new home page: https://finit-project.github.io

Changes

Change default reboot to SOC reset from WDT reset, issue #460
Bump required versions of libite (v2.6.2) and libuev (v2.4.1)
Allow longer service identifiers (:id), up to 64 characters
Allow skipping bootstrap wait (180 sec) with Ctrl-C
Unlock initctl commands start/stop/restart/reload service during bootstrap,
shutdown, and reboot. Also, allow initctl reload in bootstrap. This makes
it possible to start manual:yes type services at botostrap, for example, which
has been a common feature request
Add support for clone3() syscall with atomic cgroup assignment, from Linux
kernel 5.3+. Eliminates race conditions where forked processes (e.g., logger
processes) ended up in wrong cgroups. Falls back to fork() on older kernels
Add support for cgroup delegation, useful for, e.g., container runtimes
creating sub-groups for the container instance's processes
Add cgroup leaf name override: cgroup.system,name:udevd allows using
descriptive names like /system/udevd/ instead of filename derived names
like /system/10-hotplug/. Syntax supports combining with other options:
cgroup.system,name:foo,delegate,cpu.max:10000
Add support for Linux capabilities, allowing services to run with minimal
required privileges instead of running as root. Uses the modern IAB API
(Inheritable, Ambient, Bounding) from libcap. By Aaron Andersen
Add support for supplementary groups for services. Uses the syntax
@user:group,sup1,sup2 to explicitly specify supplementary groups, in
addition to reading group membership from /etc/group. By Aaron Andersen
Add CPU throttled information to initctl output, showing when a service
has been throttled due to reaching its CPU quota
Add memory field to initctl --json status output for cgroup-enabled
services
Default to user and group root (UID 0) for services
Always check that service user and group resolve to valid UID/GID pairs,
otherwise log error and refuse to start service
Hide cursor at boot and shutdown for cleaner visual experience
Rename tty services early from init -> getty even though no getty
process has been started yet. This to aid in boot timing detection using
tools like bootchartd (BusyBox version or bootchart2 project) when Finit
only shows "Please press Enter to activate this console."
Services with respawn option (including TTYs) now delay retry on non-zero
exit codes instead of immediate respawn. Prevents busy-loop when service
fails repeatedly, which on some systems may have a crippling effect

Fixes

Fix #453: RTC plugin fixes by Ming Liu, Atlas Copco
Fix #455: ANSI escape sequences logged by tools using glib logging,
caused by use of PTY instead of pipe for stdout/stderr redirection
Fix #462: /dev/pts mounted with wrong mode (400 instead of 620), causing
permission issues with pseudo-terminals
getty: fix terminal scrollback issues after login on console TTY. Mouse
scroll wheel and Shift+PgUp/PgDn sometimes would not work properly
Fix flickering and artifacts in initctl top
Fix file descriptor leak in initctl top
Fix incorrect "max" limit reporting in initctl [top|cgroup|--json] output
for child cgroups. Resolves effective limits by walking the cgroup hierarchy
Fix issue with running Finit under bootchartd (bootchart2 project), always
set PATH and SHELL envs early, before attempting to mount /proc et al
Always reset ownership and permissions on TTY device nodes before launching getty
Ensure mount/unmount skips noauto entries

Finit v4.15-rc2

2026-01-01T15:08:55Z

The Finit project now has a new home page: https://finit-project.github.io

Changes

Change default reboot to SOC reset from WDT reset, issue #460
Bump required versions of libite (v2.6.2) and libuev (v2.4.1)
Allow longer service identifiers (:id), up to 64 characters
Allow skipping bootstrap wait (180 sec) with Ctrl-C
Unlock initctl commands start/stop/restart/reload service during bootstrap,
shutdown, and reboot. Also, allow initctl reload in bootstrap. This makes
it possible to start manual:yes type services at botostrap, for example, which
has been a common feature request
Add support for clone3() syscall with atomic cgroup assignment, from Linux
kernel 5.3+. Eliminates race conditions where forked processes (e.g., logger
processes) ended up in wrong cgroups. Falls back to fork() on older kernels
Add support for cgroup delegation, useful for, e.g., container runtimes
creating sub-groups for the container instance's processes
Add cgroup leaf name override: cgroup.system,name:udevd allows using
descriptive names like /system/udevd/ instead of filename derived names
like /system/10-hotplug/. Syntax supports combining with other options:
cgroup.system,name:foo,delegate,cpu.max:10000
Add support for Linux capabilities, allowing services to run with minimal
required privileges instead of running as root. Uses the modern IAB API
(Inheritable, Ambient, Bounding) from libcap. By Aaron Andersen
Add support for supplementary groups for services. Uses the syntax
@user:group,sup1,sup2 to explicitly specify supplementary groups, in
addition to reading group membership from /etc/group. By Aaron Andersen
Add CPU throttled information to initctl output, showing when a service
has been throttled due to reaching its CPU quota
Add memory field to initctl --json status output for cgroup-enabled
services
Default to user and group root (UID 0) for services
Always check that service user and group resolve to valid UID/GID pairs,
otherwise log error and refuse to start service
Hide cursor at boot and shutdown for cleaner visual experience
Rename tty services early from init -> getty even though no getty
process has been started yet. This to aid in boot timing detection using
tools like bootchartd (BusyBox version or bootchart2 project) when Finit
only shows "Please press Enter to activate this console."
Services with respawn option (including TTYs) now delay retry on non-zero
exit codes instead of immediate respawn. Prevents busy-loop when service
fails repeatedly, which on some systems may have a crippling effect

Fixes

Fix #453: RTC plugin fixes by Ming Liu, Atlas Copco
Fix #455: ANSI escape sequences logged by tools using glib logging,
caused by use of PTY instead of pipe for stdout/stderr redirection
Fix #462: /dev/pts mounted with wrong mode (400 instead of 620), causing
permission issues with pseudo-terminals
getty: fix terminal scrollback issues after login on console TTY. Mouse
scroll wheel and Shift+PgUp/PgDn sometimes would not work properly
Fix flickering and artifacts in initctl top
Fix file descriptor leak in initctl top
Fix incorrect "max" limit reporting in initctl [top|cgroup|--json] output
for child cgroups. Resolves effective limits by walking the cgroup hierarchy
Fix issue with running Finit under bootchartd (bootchart2 project), always
set PATH and SHELL envs early, before attempting to mount /proc et al
Always reset ownership and permissions on TTY device nodes before launching getty
Ensure mount/unmount skips noauto entries

Finit v4.15-rc1

2025-12-18T06:24:31Z

Changes

Change default reboot to SOC reset from WDT reset, issue #460
Bump required versions of libite (v2.6.2) and libuev (v2.4.1)
Allow longer service identifiers (:id), up to 64 characters
Allow skipping bootstrap wait (180 sec) with Ctrl-C
Unlock initctl commands start/stop/restart/reload service during bootstrap,
shutdown, and reboot. Also, allow initctl reload in bootstrap. This makes
it possible to start manual:yes type services at botostrap, for example, which
has been a common feature request
Add support for clone3() syscall with atomic cgroup assignment, from Linux
kernel 5.3+. Eliminates race conditions where forked processes (e.g., logger
processes) ended up in wrong cgroups. Falls back to fork() on older kernels
Add support for cgroup delegation, useful for, e.g., container runtimes
creating sub-groups for the container instance's processes
Add cgroup leaf name override: cgroup.system,name:udevd allows using
descriptive names like /system/udevd/ instead of filename derived names
like /system/10-hotplug/. Syntax supports combining with other options:
cgroup.system,name:foo,delegate,cpu.max:10000

Fixes

Fix #453: RTC plugin fixes by Ming Liu, Atlas Copco
Fix #455: ANSI escape sequences logged by tools using glib logging,
caused by use of PTY instead of pipe for stdout/stderr redirection
getty: fix terminal scrollback issues after login on console TTY. Mouse
scroll wheel and Shift+PgUp/PgDn sometimes would not work properly
Fix flickering and artifacts in initctl top
Fix file descriptor leak in initctl top
Fix incorrect "max" limit reporting in initctl [top|cgroup|--json] output
for child cgroups. Resolves effective limits by walking the cgroup hierarchy
Ensure mount/unmount skips noauto entries

Finit v4.14

2025-08-29T15:15:19Z

Minor bug fix release.

Changes

Add exit status/signal info when a process dies, by Mattias Berthel
Extend service kill:SEC to support up to 300 sec.
Extend norespawn debug to cover service_retry()
Build without libsystemd replacement by default

Fixes

Fix #449: ALSA plugin fail-to-build-from-source
Fix sysv stop command process environment, should be same as start
Fix state machine ordering issue: enter new config generation after
services disabled in previous generation have been stopped

Finit v4.13

2025-08-05T06:03:00Z

Note

This release introduce a bare bones libsystemd replacement with an
<systemd/sd-daemon.h> include file. Other systemd features are the
reload:script and stop:script, mimicking ExecReload and ExecStop.

Changes

initctl signal command has been renamed to initctl kill
Drop xz tarballs from distribution, gzip is good enough
New tmpfiles stand-alone program, refactored from the existing
tmpfiles.d support in Finit, by Aaron Andersen, PR #439
- --remove command runs only the r and R rules
- --create is used for all other cases (bootstrap)
All notify:systemd services now log with logit by default. This
because it supports systemd style log severity, leading "<NUM>"
Support for quoted arguments to run/task/service options, issue #441
Clear command line arguments after bootstrap, issue #442
Support for stop:'script [args]' to stop a sysv/service instead of
the common foo-stop-start.sh stop, or SIGTERM, issue #412
Support for reload:'script [args]' to trigger a configuration
reload in a service, issue #446

Fixes

Fix #437: buffer overflow in initctl status
Fix #438: support very long command lines in initctl ps/top
Fix #440: broken systemd and s6 readiness notification
Fix #443: build warnings, by Ming Liu, Atlas Copco
Fix #444: handle loooooong arguments, by Aaron Andersen
Fix service's redirected stdout/stderr log priority in fallback mode,
when neither logger or logit is available. This fix also checks
for systemd style log severity, leading "<NUM>" in log messages
Ensure API socket used by initctl is non-blocking (event loop)

Finit v4.13-rc1

2025-07-10T14:56:44Z

Note

This release introduce a bare bones libsystemd replacement with an
<systemd/sd-daemon>.h include file. Other systemd features are the
reload:script and stop:script, mimicking ExecReload and ExecStop.

Changes

Drop xz tarballs from distribution, gzip is good enough
New tmpfiles stand-alone program, refactored from the existing
tmpfiles.d support in Finit, by Aaron Andersen, PR #439
- --remove command runs only the r and R rules
- --create is used for all other cases (bootstrap)
All notify:systemd services now log with logit by default. This
because it supports systemd style log severity, leading "<NUM>"
Support for quoted arguments to run/task/service options, issue #441
Clear command line arguments after bootstrap, issue #442
Support for stop:'script [args]' to stop a sysv/service instead of
the common foo-stop-start.sh stop, or SIGTERM, issue #412
Support for reload:'script [args]' to trigger a configuration
reload in a service, issue #446

Fixes

Fix #437: buffer overflow in initctl status
Fix #438: support very long command lines in initctl ps/top
Fix #440: broken systemd and s6 readiness notification
Fix #443: build warnings, by Ming Liu, Atlas Copco
Fix #444: handle loooooong arguments, by Aaron Andersen
Fix service's redirected stdout/stderr log priority in fallback mode,
when neither logger or logit is available. This fix also checks
for systemd style log severity, leading "<NUM>" in log messages
Ensure API socket used by initctl is non-blocking (event loop)

Finit v4.12

2025-04-27T22:49:47Z

Changes

Improve notify:s6 readiness compatibility, by Aaron Andersen
Update runparts usage text

Fixes

Fix variable overloading in urandom plugin
Fix buffer overwrite in urandom plugin, reported by Aaron Andersen

Finit v4.11

2025-03-27T18:34:10Z

Changes

Update documentation regarding transition from runlevel S to 2, how
run/tasks must "complete" before Finit can move to the next runlevel
Improve argument handling in bundled getty when launching login

Fixes

Fix #432: allow services in setup state to be stopped. This fixes
a serious blocker introduced in 4.10 that prevented systems from
being rebooted when any service was in this state
Fix fallback SIGKILL when stopping a service with SIGTERM does
not work. This fixes a serious issue with services not responding to
the default SIGTERM
Fix pre/post/ready/cleanup script execution if service has an
optional env:file (leading -)
Fix blocked signals for pre/post/ready/cleanup scripts preventing
normal shutdown when a service/sysv is stopped in its setup state
Fix issue where a pre:script creates a PID file in /run cause the
service to move from setup state to running. Any svc_t in setup,
teardown, or cleanup state should be ignored in the pidfile plugin