Tags from finit

Finit v4.16

2026-02-27T09:44:15Z

Finit v4.16 GA

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

Signed-off-by: Joachim Wiberg <[email protected]>

Finit v4.16-rc1

2026-02-24T04:45:02Z

Finit v4.16-rc1

Changes:

Fixes:

Signed-off-by: Joachim Wiberg <[email protected]>

Finit v4.15

2026-01-01T15:53:29Z

Finit v4.15 GA

Signed-off-by: Joachim Wiberg <[email protected]>

Finit v4.15-rc2

2026-01-01T15:08:55Z

Finit v4.15-rc2

Signed-off-by: Joachim Wiberg <[email protected]>

Finit v4.15-rc1

2025-12-18T06:24:31Z

Finit v4.15-rc1

Signed-off-by: Joachim Wiberg <[email protected]>

Finit v4.14

2025-08-29T15:15:19Z

Finit v4.14 GA

Signed-off-by: Joachim Wiberg <[email protected]>

Finit v4.13

2025-08-05T06:03:00Z

Finit v4.13 GA

- `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

- 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)

Signed-off-by: Joachim Wiberg <[email protected]>

Finit v4.13-rc1

2025-07-10T14:56:44Z

Finit v4.13-rc1

- 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

Signed-off-by: Joachim Wiberg <[email protected]>

Finit v4.12

2025-04-27T22:49:47Z

Finit v4.12

- Improve notify:s6 readiness compatibility, by Aaron Andersen
- Update `runparts` usage text
- Fix variable overloading in urandom plugin
- Fix buffer overwrite in urandom plugin, reported by Aaron Andersen

Signed-off-by: Joachim Wiberg <[email protected]>

Finit v4.11

2025-03-27T18:34:10Z

Finit v4.11 GA

- 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

- 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

Signed-off-by: Joachim Wiberg <[email protected]>