service(8)

NAME

   service - run a System V init script

SYNOPSIS

   service SCRIPT COMMAND [OPTIONS]

   service --status-all

   service --help | -h | --version

DESCRIPTION

   service runs a System V init script, systemd unit, or upstart job in as
   predictable an  environment  as  possible,  removing  most  environment
   variables and with the current working directory set to /.

   The  SCRIPT  parameter  specifies  a  System  V init script, located in
   /etc/init.d/SCRIPT, or the name of a systemd unit, or the  name  of  an
   upstart  job  in  /etc/init. The existence of a systemd unit or upstart
   job of the same name as a script in /etc/init.d will cause the unit/job
   to  take  precedence  over  the init.d script.  The supported values of
   COMMAND depend on the  invoked  script.   service  passes  COMMAND  and
   OPTIONS  to  the  init  script unmodified. For systemd units or upstart
   jobs, start, stop, status, and  reload  are  passed  through  to  their
   systemctl/initctl  equivalents. For upstart jobs, restart will call the
   upstart 'stop' for the job, followed immediately by  the  'start',  and
   will exit with the return code of the start command.

   All  scripts should support at least the start and stop commands.  As a
   special case, if COMMAND is --full-restart, the script  is  run  twice,
   first  with  the stop command, then with the start command. This option
   has no effect on upstart jobs.

   service --status-all runs all init scripts, in alphabetical order, with
   the  status  command.   The status is [ + ] for running services, [ - ]
   for stopped services and [ ? ] for services without a 'status' command.
   This  option  only  calls status for sysvinit jobs; upstart jobs can be
   queried in a similar manner with initctl list.

EXIT CODES

   service calls the init script and returns the status returned by it.

FILES

   /etc/init.d
          The directory containing System V init scripts.

   /etc/init
          The directory containing upstart jobs.

   /{lib,run,etc}/systemd/system
          The directories containing systemd units.

ENVIRONMENT

   LANG, LANGUAGE, LC_CTYPE, LC_NUMERIC, LC_TIME, LC_COLLATE, LC_MONETARY,
   LC_MESSAGES,     LC_PAPER,     LC_NAME,    LC_ADDRESS,    LC_TELEPHONE,
   LC_MEASUREMENT, LC_IDENTIFICATION, LC_ALL, TERM, PATH
          The only environment variables passed to the init scripts.

SEE ALSO

   /etc/init.d/skeleton,
   update-rc.d(8),
   init(8),
   invoke-rc.d(8).
   systemctl(1).
   initctl(8).

                               Jan 2006                         service(8)

---

Free and Open Source Software