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I have a service foo which currently starts at runlevel 3 and above. How can I stop it from doing so, without using update-rc.d foo stop 3 ., which (if I understand it correctly) would turn off the service at each runlevel change.

(ie., if I was at runlevel 1 and enabled foo, then when I changed to runlevel 3 it would be disabled, no?)

Running Debian GNU/Linux Lenny.

lfaraone
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11 Answers11

66

The "stop" term does not prevent the daemon from starting but rather shuts it down while entering the specified runlevel.

If you just want to remove a service/daemon from a single runlevel, update-rc.d as pointed out bei freiheit or simply remove the symlink from /etc/rcX.d/, where X is your runlevel. If you don't want the service to start automatically, update-rc.d -f foo remove will do the trick.

Community
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PEra
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62

Configure Linux Startup Applications with sysv-rc-conf:

apt-get install sysv-rc-conf

As others have pointed out, here is also update-rc.d for the cmd line.

For example, run 

update-rc.d apache2 disable

to disable apache2 from all run levels.

rubo77
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Not Now
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17

Short:

There is no reliable way to do this quickly.

Long:

Current Debian (Debian unstable as of 2012-06-01) has currently no reliable short way to consistently disable a service/daemon. – Because an upgrade of a daemon package unconditionally runs “/etc/init.d/package restart”, having it disabled for this runlevel or not.

To make sure a daemon doesn’t start, you could:

  • uninstall it
  • make a local divert of the /etc/init.d/xyz script (this way, no tools will find it)
  • use/abuse a config file of the corresponding package to provoke an early exit of that script (e.g. put an “exit” early in /etc/default/xyz in case it is sourced from the init script)
  • look in that init-script for predefined “official” ways to not start that daemon

There is/was(?) some init-policy-something step for init scripts in Debian, which was supposed to fill this missing functionality. – I tried to use it, found it complicated, found a bug, and never touched it again.

Update:

Switch to “systemd”, an alternative to “initd”. A debian package exists, and you can disable a service with something like this:

cd /etc/systemd/system
ln -s /dev/null xyz.service
Robert Siemer
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7

Run this command

apt-get install rcconf

Once installed, run rcconf in SSH and you will receive a dialog box displaying all services set to run on boot. Select the ones by pressing Space to disable/enable the particular and you're done, simpley click on Ok and that service wont bother to start again on next boot. Being using this for years. Very handy tool for Debian/Ubuntu users like me.

Mark Levinsky
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3

I'm confused what you're trying to accomplish.

What run levels do you want foo running in?

If you always want it running, use update-rc.d foo defaults; that will stop it in 0, 1 and 6, while leaving it running in 2, 3, 4 and 5. (1 shouldn't run anything but a shell, 0 and 6 are halt and reboot)

If you want to specify exactly what run levels to run in:

update-rc.d foo stop 0 1 6 3 . start 2 4 5 .
freiheit
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3

I think this would do the job: insserv -r foo

user38551
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2
sudo update-rc.d SERVICE disable

If you want to specify run levels.

sudo update-rc.d SERVICE disable|enable [S|2|3|4|5]

Remember to change service to the name of the program.

sudo service SERVICE restart
Eddie
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1

Start using insserv from Debian7

Output all services and it runlevel information

insserv --showall

Remove the listed scripts from all runlevels 

insserv --remove [specify_script]
cocoa
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1

Why don't you backup the startup script somewhere else and remove it in the /etc/init.d/ ? If the update-rc.d doesn't work.

Kosaka Honoka
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0

On a red hat based system you could use 

chkconfig httpd off
chkconfig httpd --del

to remove the server from runlevels

on debian based system all services are supposed to be started by the files found in the /etc/rc?.d/ directories these files then have a symbolic link to the corresponding files in the /etc/init.d/ directory. If you wish for a service not to start by default then you can rename/remove it from the /etc/rc?.d directory and your change will be preserved on package upgrade as long as one of the start links still appear in one of the other (3,4 and 5) directories. Or you can use the update-rc.d command to change the link(s) and if you want to start the service after then you can use /etc/init.d/service_name start if you leave the start off the end it will give you the options that can be used like stop, restart, reload ...

I think you can use sysv-rc-conf to disable it though.

Warren P
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Rodent43
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0

Ubuntu's Bootup Manager is kind of sysv-rc-conf light, a more friendly, GUI version, and many folks reading this thread will appreciate that.

http://www.marzocca.net/linux/bum.html