---
name: "initscript"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "sysvinit-core"
version: "3.14-4"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/initscript"
---

# initscript(5)

script that executes inittab commands

## NAME

initscript - script that executes inittab commands

## SYNOPSIS

/bin/sh /etc/initscript id runlevels action process

## DESCRIPTION

When the shell script */etc/initscript* is present, **init** will use it to execute the commands from *inittab*. This script can be used to set things like *ulimit* and *umask* default values for every process.

## EXAMPLES

This is a sample initscript, which might be installed on your system as */etc/initscript.sample*.

```
#
# initscript   Executed by init(8) for every program it
#              wants to spawn like this:
#
#              /bin/sh /etc/initscript <id> <level> <action> <process>
#
  # Set umask to safe level, and enable core dumps.
  umask 022
  ulimit -c 2097151
  PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
  export PATH
  # Increase the hard file descriptor limit for all processes
  # to 8192.  The soft limit is still 1024, but any unprivileged
  # process can increase its soft limit up to the hard limit
  # with "ulimit -Sn xxx" (needs a 2.2.13 or later Linux kernel).
  ulimit -Hn 8192
  # Execute the program.
  eval exec "$4"

```

## NOTES

This script is not meant as startup script for daemons or services. It has nothing to do with a *rc.local* style script. It's just a handler for things executed from **/etc/inittab**. Experimenting with this can make your system un(re)bootable.

## FILES

/etc/inittab, /etc/initscript.

## AUTHOR

Miquel van Smoorenburg ⟨miquels@\\:cistron\\:.nl⟩

## SEE ALSO

[**inittab**(5)](/inittab/5.md), [**init**(8)](/init/8.md)