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I'm running Rasbpian on my Pi, and I have a script in /etc/rc0.d (or more precisely, a symlink to /etc/init.d/myscript.sh) that does some GPIO output to notify the user that power can be shut off.

If I run sudo shutdown -h now, the script runs, and the system goes down.
If I run sudo shutdown now, the script does not run, but the system goes down.

I cannot find any documentation that states what should really happen when running shutdown now with no other arguments.

What difference does the -h make in this case? Does running shutdown now really not invoke runlevel 0?

Update: I found this doc (unixhelp.ed.ac.uk), saying that the default behaviour with no arguments is to go to runlevel 1. But I have a script in /etc/rc1.d, too, that does not run on shutdown.

As requested, here are the first few lines from last -x (the arrows are mine):

pi       pts/3        vidar-ramdals-ma Fri Jan  9 18:07   still logged in   
runlevel (to lvl 2)   3.12.28+         Fri Jan  9 18:04 - 18:07  (00:02)    
reboot   system boot  3.12.28+         Fri Jan  9 18:04 - 18:07  (00:02)    
shutdown system down  3.12.28+         Fri Jan  9 18:04 - 18:04  (00:00)    
runlevel (to lvl 0)   3.12.28+         Fri Jan  9 18:04 - 18:04  (00:00) <- shutdown -h now   
pi       pts/3        vidar-ramdals-ma Fri Jan  9 18:02 - down   (00:01)    
runlevel (to lvl 2)   3.12.28+         Fri Jan  9 18:01 - 18:04  (00:02)    
reboot   system boot  3.12.28+         Fri Jan  9 18:01 - 18:04  (00:02)    
pi       pts/3        vidar-ramdals-ma Fri Jan  9 17:57 - crash  (00:04) <- shutdown now   
pi       pts/3        vidar-ramdals-ma Fri Jan  9 01:30 - 01:34  (00:03)    
pi       pts/3        vidar-ramdals-ma Fri Jan  9 01:29 - 01:29  (00:00)    
runlevel (to lvl 2)   3.12.28+         Fri Jan  9 01:23 - 18:01  (16:38)    
reboot   system boot  3.12.28+         Fri Jan  9 01:23 - 18:04  (16:41)

The runlevel (to lvl 0) line appears after I did shutdown -h now, while the crash line is from shutdown now. Does shutdown now cause a "crash" which prevents it from running init scripts?

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  • Can you run last -x for us? Maybe it's switching to yet a different runlevel. (I have a vague recollection it was runlevel s, single user mode, in slackware?) Commented Jan 9, 2015 at 11:00
  • Yes, when should I run last -x? After reboot, or before running sudo shutdown now? I'll try when I get home this afternoon. And, BTW, isn't runlevel 1 single user mode? wiki.debian.org/RunLevel Commented Jan 9, 2015 at 11:09
  • Anytime, as root. last looks at the history of your logins, reboots and runlevel changes, so it should tell you what runlevel your shutdown puts you in. Commented Jan 9, 2015 at 12:27
  • OK, I have added that to the question. Commented Jan 9, 2015 at 17:10

1 Answer 1

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The name of the file in the rc.d folders is important and it's not clear what you've named your symlink to your /etc/init.d/myscript.sh.

Examples from /etc/rc1.d:

  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 25 Nov  3  2011 K99readahead_early -> ../init.d/readahead_early
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 25 Nov  3  2011 K99readahead_later -> ../init.d/readahead_later
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Nov  3  2011 S02lvm2-monitor -> ../init.d/lvm2-monitor
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 Nov  3  2011 S13cpuspeed -> ../init.d/cpuspeed

If S is supplied then it'll run the script with start; if K is supplied it'll run the script with stop. The integer value is then the priority that should be run.

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  • Yeah, should have mentioned, I used update-rc.d to create the symlink, so it is named something like K02.... I'll have a look and find out exactly what the symlink is called. But the problem is still why the script runs on shutdown -h now, and not on shutdown now. Commented Jan 9, 2015 at 12:05
  • I thought this issue was due to the different runlevel based on whether -h is provided or not? Commented Jan 9, 2015 at 12:24
  • Well, if shutdown now invokes a different runlevel than shutdown -h now - I don't know. I believed that shutdown would cause runlevel 0 no matter what, but maybe I'm wrong. As said, my script runs fine when doing shutdown -h now, but does not run on shutdown now. Another script in /etc/rc1.d also does not run on shutdown now, so it doesn't look like runlevel 1 is invoked. @Ulrich Schwartz suggests that it might be runlevel S that is getting invoked, I'll have to look into that possibility. Commented Jan 9, 2015 at 12:28

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