RC.CONF(5)

NAME
rc.conf - system startup configuration file

DESCRIPTION
The rc.conf file specifies which services are enabled during system startup by the startup scripts invoked by /etc/rc (see rc(8)), and the shutdown scripts invoked by /etc/rc.shutdown. The rc.conf file is a shell script that is sourced by rc(8), meaning that rc.conf must contain valid shell commands.

Listed below are the standard rc.conf variables that may be set, the values to which each may be set, a brief description of what each variable does, and a reference to relevant manual pages. Third party packages may test for additional variables.

Most variables are one of two types: enabling variables or flags variables. Enabling variables, such as inetd, are generally named after the program or the system they enable, and are set to ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Flags variables, such as inetd_flags have the same name with "_flags" appended, and determine what arguments are passed to the program if it is enabled.

If a variable that rc(8) expects to be set is not set, or the value is not one of the allowed values, a warning will be printed.

By default, rc.conf reads /etc/defaults/rc.conf (if it is readable) to obtain default values for various variables, and the end-user may override these by appending appropriate entries to the end of rc.conf.

rc.d(8) scripts that use load_rc_config from rc.subr(8) also support sourcing an optional end-user provided per-script override file /etc/rc.conf.d/service, (where service is the contents of the name variable in the rc.d(8) script). This may contain variable overrides, including allowing the end-user to override various run_rc_command rc.d(8) control variables, and thus changing the operation of the script without requiring editing of the script.

  Overall control

do_rcshutdown
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. If set to ‘NO’, shutdown(8) will not run /etc/rc.shutdown.

rcshutdown_rcorder_flags
    A string. Extra arguments to the rcorder(8) run by /etc/rc.shutdown.

rcshutdown_timeout
    A number. If non-blank, use this as the number of seconds to run a watchdog timer for which will terminate /etc/rc.shutdown if the timer expires before the shutdown script completes.

rc_configured
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. If not set to ‘YES’ then the system will drop into single-user mode during boot.

rc_fast_and_loose
    If set to a non-empty string, each script in /etc/rc.d will be executed in the current shell rather than a sub shell. This may be faster on slow machines that have an expensive fork(2) operation.

    Note:
        Use this at your own risk! A rogue command or script may inadvertently prevent boot to multiuser.

rc_rcorder_flags
    A string. Extra arguments to the rcorder(8) run by /etc/rc.

  Basic network configuration

defaultroute
    A string. Default IPv4 network route. If empty or not set, then the contents of /etc/mygate (if it exists) are used.

defaultroute6
    A string. Default IPv6 network route. If empty or not set, then the contents of /etc/mygate6 (if it exists) are used.

domainname
    A string. NIS (YP) domain of host. If empty or not set, then the contents of /etc/defaultdomain (if it exists) are used.

force_down_interfaces
    A space separated list of interface names. These interfaces will be configured down when going from multiuser to singleuser mode or on system shutdown.

    This is important for some stateful interfaces, for example PPP over ISDN connections that cost money by connection time or PPPoE interfaces which have no direct means of noticing “disconnect” events.

    All active pppoe(4) and ippp(4) interfaces will be automatically added to this list.

hostname
    A string. Name of host. If empty or not set, then the contents of /etc/myname (if it exists) are used.

  Boottime file-system and swap configuration

critical_filesystems_local
    A string. File systems mounted very early in the system boot before networking services are available. Usually /var is part of this, because it is needed by services such as dhclient(8) which may be required to get the network operational.

critical_filesystems_remote
    A string. File systems such as /usr that may require network services to be available to mount, that must be available early in the system boot for general services to use.

fsck_flags
    A string. A file system is checked with fsck(8) during boot before mounting it. This option may be used to override the default command-line options passed to the fsck(8) program.

    When set to -y, fsck(8) assumes yes as the answer to all operator questions during file system checks. This might be important with hosts where the administrator does not have access to the console and an unsuccessful shutdown must not make the host unbootable even if the file system checks would fail in preen mode.

no_swap
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Set the no_swap variable to ‘YES’ if you have configured your system with no swap on purpose. If not set to ‘YES’, and no swap devices are configured, the system will warn you.

swapoff
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Remove block-type swap devices at shutdown time. Useful if swapping onto RAIDframe devices.

  One-time actions to perform or programs to run on boot-up

accounting
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Enables process accounting with accton(8). Requires /var/account/acct to exist.

clear_tmp
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Clear /tmp after reboot.

dmesg
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Create /var/run/dmesg.boot from the output of dmesg(8). Passes dmesg_flags.

lkm ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs /etc/rc.lkm.

mixerctl
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Read mixerctl.conf(5) for how to set mixer values. List in mixerctl_mixers the devices whose settings are to be saved at shutdown and restored at start-up.

newsyslog
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Run newsyslog to trim logfiles before syslogd starts. Intended for laptop users. Passes newsyslog_flags.

per_user_tmp
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Enables a per-user /tmp directory. per_user_tmp_dir can be used to override the default location of the “real” temporary directories, “/private/tmp”.

savecore
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs the savecore(8) utility. Passes savecore_flags. The directory where crash dumps are stored is specified by savecore_dir. The default setting is “/var/crash”.

tpctl
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Run tpctl(8) to calibrate touch panel device. Passes tpctl_flags.

update_motd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Updates the NetBSD version string in the /etc/motd file to reflect the version of the running kernel. See motd(5).

veriexec
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Load Veriexec fingerprints during startup. Read veriexecctl(8) for more information.

virecover
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Send notification mail to users if any recoverable files exist in /var/tmp/vi.recover. Read virecover(8) for more information.

  System security setting

securelevel
    A number. The system securelevel is set to the specified value early in the boot process, before any external logins, or other programs that run users job, are started. If set to nothing, the default action is taken, as described in init(8), which contains definitive information about the system securelevel. Note that setting securelevel to 0 in rc.conf will actually result in the system booting with securelevel set to 1, as init(8) will raise the level when rc(8) completes.

permit_nonalpha
    Allow passwords to include non-alpha characters, usually to allow NIS/YP netgroups.

veriexec_strict
    A number. Controls the strict level of Veriexec. Level 0 is learning mode, used when building the signatures file. It will only output messages but will not enforce anything. Level 1 will only prevent access to files with a fingerprint mismatch. Level 2 will also deny writing to and removing of monitored files, as well as enforce access type (as specified in the signatures file). Level 3 will take a step further and prevent access to files that are not monitored.

veriexec_verbose
    A number. Controls the verbosity of Veriexec. Recommended operation is at level 0, verbose output (mostly used when building the signatures file) is at level 1. Level 2 is for debugging only and should not be used.

  Networking startup

altqd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. ALTQ configuration/monitoring daemon. Passes altqd_flags.

auto_ifconfig
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Sets the net_interfaces variable (see below) to the output of ifconfig(8) with the “-l” flag and suppresses warnings about interfaces in this list that do not have an ifconfig file or variable.

dhclient
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Set to ‘YES’ to configure some or all network interfaces using the DHCP client. If you set dhclient to ‘YES’, you must either have /var in critical_filesystems_local, as part of /, or direct the DHCP client to store the leases file on the root file system by modifying the dhclient_flags variable. You must not provide ifconfig information or ifaliases information for any interface that is to be configured using the DHCP client. Interface aliases can be set up in the DHCP client configuration file if needed - see dhclient.conf(5) for details.

    Passes dhclient_flags to the DHCP client. See dhclient(8) for complete documentation. If you wish to configure all broadcast network interfaces using the DHCP client, you can leave this blank. To configure only specific interfaces, name the interfaces to be configured on the command line.

    If you must run the DHCP client before mounting critical file systems, then you should specify an alternate location for the DHCP client's lease file in the dhclient_flags variable - for example, "-lf /tmp/dhclient.leases".

flushroutes
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Flushes the route table on networking startup. Useful when coming up to multiuser mode after going down to single-user mode.

hostapd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs hostapd(8), the authenticator for IEEE 802.11 networks.

ifaliases_*
    A string. List of ‘address netmask’ pairs to configure additional network addresses for the given configured interface “*” (e.g. ifaliases_le0). If netmask is “-”, then use the default netmask for the interface.

    ifaliases_* covers limited cases only and considered unrecommended. We recommend using /etc/ifconfig.xxN with multiple lines instead.

ifwatchd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Monitor dynamic interfaces and perform actions upon address changes. Passes ifwatchd_flags.

ip6mode
    A string. An IPv6 node can be a router (nodes that forward packet for others) or a host (nodes that do not forward). A host can be autoconfigured based on the information advertised by adjacent IPv6 routers. By setting ip6mode to “router”, “host”, or “autohost”, you can configure your node as a router, a non-autoconfigured host, or an autoconfigured host. Invalid values will be ignored, and the node will be configured as a non-autoconfigured host. You may want to check rtsol and rtsold as well, if you set the variable to “autohost”.

ip6uniquelocal
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. If ip6mode is equal to “router” and ip6uniquelocal is set to ‘NO’ a reject route will be installed on boot to avoid misconfiguration relating to unique-local addresses. If set to ‘YES’ the reject route won't be installed.

ipfilter
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs ipf(8) to load in packet filter specifications from /etc/ipf.conf at network boot time, before any interfaces are configured. See ipf.conf(5).

ipfs
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs ipfs(8) to save and restore information for ipnat and ipfilter state tables. The information is stored in /var/db/ipf/ipstate.ipf and /var/db/ipf/ipnat.ipf. Passes ipfs_flags.

ipmon
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs ipmon(8) to read ipf(8) packet log information and log it to a file or the system log. Passes ipmon_flags.

ipmon_flags
    A string. Specifies arguments to supply to ipmon(8). Defaults to “-ns”. A typical example would be “-nD /var/log/ipflog” to have ipmon(8) log directly to a file bypassing syslogd(8). If the “-D” argument is used, remember to modify /etc/newsyslog.conf accordingly; for example:

        /var/log/ipflog  640  10  100  *  Z  /var/run/ipmon.pid

ipnat
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs ipnat(8) to load in the IP network address translation (NAT) rules from /etc/ipnat.conf at network boot time, before any interfaces are configured. See ipnat.conf(5).

ipsec
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs setkey(8) to load in IPsec manual keys and policies from /etc/ipsec.conf at network boot time, before any interfaces are configured.

net_interfaces
    A string. The list of network interfaces to be configured at boot time. For each interface "xxN", the system first looks for ifconfig parameters in /etc/ifconfig.xxN and then in the variable ifconfig_xxN. The contents of the file or the variable are handed to ifconfig after the interface name. If auto_ifconfig is set to "NO" and neither the file nor the variable is found, a warning is printed. Refer to ifconfig.if(5) for more details on /etc/ifconfig.xxN.

ntpdate
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs ntpdate(8) to set the system time from one of the hosts in ntpdate_hosts. If ntpdate_hosts is empty, it will attempt to find a list of hosts in /etc/ntp.conf. Passes ntpdate_flags.

ppp_peers
    A string. If ppp_peers is not empty, then /etc/rc.d/ppp will check each word in ppp_peers for a corresponding ppp configuration file in /etc/ppp/peers and will call pppd(8) with the “call peer” option.

racoon
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs racoon(8), the IKE (ISAKMP/Oakley) key management daemon.

rtsol
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Run rtsol(8), router solicitation command for IPv6 hosts. On nomadic hosts like notebook computers, you may want to enable rtsold as well. Passes rtsol_flags. This is only for autoconfigured IPv6 hosts, so set ip6mode to “autohost” if you use it.

wpa_supplicant
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Run wpa_supplicant(8), WPA/802.11i Supplicant for wireless network devices.

  Daemons required by other daemons

inetd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs the inetd(8) daemon to start network server processes (as listed in /etc/inetd.conf) as necessary. Passes inetd_flags. The “-l” flag turns on libwrap connection logging.

rpcbind
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. The rpcbind(8) daemon is required for any rpc(3) services. These include NFS, NIS, bootparamd(8), rstatd(8), rusersd(8), and rwalld(8). Passes rpcbind_flags.

  Commonly used daemons

cron
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Run cron(8).

lpd ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs lpd(8) and passes lpd_flags. The “-l” flag will turn on extra logging.

named
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs named(8) and passes named_flags.

named_chrootdir
    A string. If non-blank and named is ‘YES’, run named(8) as the unprivileged user and group ‘named’, chroot(2)ed to named_chrootdir. named_chrootdir/var/run/log will be added to the list of log sockets that syslogd(8) listens to.

ntpd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs ntpd(8) and passes ntpd_flags.

ntpd_chrootdir
    A string. If non-blank and ntpd is ‘YES’, run ntpd(8) as the unprivileged user and group ‘ntpd’, chroot(2)ed to ntpd_chrootdir. ntpd_chrootdir/var/run/log will be added to the list of log sockets that syslogd(8) listens to. This option requires that the kernel has
        pseudo-device clockctl
    compiled in, and that /dev/clockctl is present.

postfix
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Starts postfix(1) mail system.

sshd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs sshd(8) and passes sshd_flags.

syslogd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs syslogd(8) and passes syslogd_flags.

timed
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs timed(8) and passes timed_flags. The “-M” option allows timed(8) to be a master time source as well as a slave. If you are also running ntpd(8), only one machine running both should have the “-M” flag given to timed(8).

  Routing daemons

mrouted
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs mrouted(8), the DVMRP multicast routing protocol daemon. Passes mrouted_flags.

route6d
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs route6d(8), the RIPng routing protocol daemon for IPv6. Passes route6d_flags.

routed
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs routed(8), the RIP routing protocol daemon. Passes routed_flags.

rtsold
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs rtsold(8), the IPv6 router solicitation daemon. rtsold(8) periodically transmits router solicitation packets to find IPv6 routers on the network. This configuration is mainly for nomadic hosts like notebook computers. Stationary hosts should work fine with just rtsol. Passes rtsold_flags. This is only for autoconfigured IPv6 hosts, so set ip6mode to “autohost” if you use it.

  Daemons used to boot other hosts over a network

bootparamd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs bootparamd(8), the boot parameter server, with bootparamd_flags as options. Used to boot NetBSD and SunOS 4.x systems.

dhcpd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs dhcpd(8), the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) daemon, for assigning IP addresses to hosts and passing boot information. Passes dhcpd_flags.

dhcrelay
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs dhcrelay(8). Passes dhcrelay_flags.

mopd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs mopd(8), the DEC MOP protocol daemon; used for booting VAX and other DEC machines. Passes mopd_flags.

ndbootd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs ndbootd(8), the Sun Network Disk (ND) Protocol server. Passes ndbootd_flags.

rarpd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs rarpd(8), the reverse ARP daemon, often used to boot NetBSD and Sun workstations. Passes rarpd_flags.

rbootd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs rbootd(8), the HP boot protocol daemon; used for booting HP workstations. Passes rbootd_flags.

rtadvd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs rtadvd(8), the IPv6 router advertisement daemon, which is used to advertise information about the subnet to IPv6 end hosts. Passes rtadvd_flags. This is only for IPv6 routers, so set ip6mode to “router” if you use it.

  X Window System daemons

xdm ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs the xdm(1) X display manager. These X daemons are available only with the optional X distribution of NetBSD.

xfs ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs the xfs(1) X11 font server, which supplies local X font files to X terminals.

  NIS (YP) daemons

ypbind
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs ypbind(8), which lets NIS (YP) clients use information from a NIS server. Passes ypbind_flags.

yppasswdd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs yppasswdd(8), which allows remote NIS users to update password on master server. Passes yppasswdd_flags.

ypserv
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs ypserv(8), the NIS (YP) server for distributing information from certain files in /etc. Passes ypserv_flags. The “-d” flag causes it to use DNS for lookups in /etc/hosts that fail.

  NFS daemons and parameters

amd ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs amd(8), the automounter daemon, which automatically mounts NFS file systems whenever a file or directory within that file system is accessed. Passes amd_flags.

amd_dir
    A string. The amd(8) mount directory. Used only if amd is set to ‘YES’.

lockd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs rpc.lockd(8) if nfs_server and/or nfs_client are set to ‘YES’. Passes lockd_flags.

mountd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs mountd(8) and passes mountd_flags.

nfs_client
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. The number of local NFS asynchronous I/O server is now controlled via sysctl(8).

nfs_server
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Sets up a host to be a NFS server by running nfsd(8) and passing nfsd_flags.

statd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs rpc.statd(8), a status monitoring daemon used when rpc.lockd(8) is running, if nfs_server and/or nfs_client are set to ‘YES’. Passes statd_flags.

  Bluetooth configuration and daemons

btconfig
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Configure bluetooth devices. If the btconfig_devices variable below is not specified, all devices known to the system will be configured. For each device, configuration arguments are first looked for in the btconfig_{dev} variable, otherwise the value of the btconfig_args variable will be used, and if that is not specified the default string is ‘enable’.

btconfig_devices
    An optional space separated list of bluetooth devices to be configured at boot time.

btconfig_args
    An optional string, containing default arguments for bluetooth devices to be configured.

btdevctl
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Configure Bluetooth devices as listed in the configuration file /etc/bluetooth/btdevctl.conf.

bthcid
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs bthcid(8), the Bluetooth HCI daemon, which manages link keys and PIN codes for Bluetooth links. Passes bthcid_flags.

sdpd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs the Service Discovery Profile daemon, sdpd(8). Passes sdpd_flags.

  Other daemons

isdnd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs isdnd(8), the isdn4bsd ISDN connection management daemon. Passes isdnd_flags.

isdn_autoupdown
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Set all configured ISDN interfaces to “up”. If isdn_interfaces is not blank, only the listed interfaces will be modified. Used only if isdnd is set to ‘YES’.

kdc ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs the kdc(8) Kerberos v4 and v5 server. This should be run on Kerberos master and slave servers.

rwhod
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs rwhod(8) to support the rwho(1) and ruptime(1) commands.

  Hardware daemons

apmd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs apmd(8) and passes apmd_flags.

irdaattach
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs irdaattach(8) and passes irdaattach_flags.

moused
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs moused(8), to pass serial mouse data to the wscons mouse mux. Passes moused_flags.

poffd
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs poffd(8) x68k shutdown daemon (only for NetBSD/x68k). Passes poffd_flags.

screenblank
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs screenblank(1) and passes screenblank_flags.

wscons
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Configures the wscons(4) console driver, from the configuration file /etc/wscons.conf.

wsmoused
    ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Runs wsmoused(8), to provide copy and paste text support in wscons displays. Passes wsmoused_flags.

FILES
/etc/rc.conf
    The file rc.conf resides in /etc.
/etc/defaults/rc.conf
    Default settings for rc.conf, sourced by rc.conf before the end-user configuration section.
/etc/rc.conf.d/foo
    foo-specific rc.conf overrides.

SEE ALSO
boot(8), rc(8), rc.d(8), rc.subr(8), rcorder(8)

HISTORY
The rc.conf file appeared in NetBSD 1.3.