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SystemStarter(8)          BSD System Manager's Manual         SystemStarter(8)

NAME
     SystemStarter -- Start, stop, and restart system services

SYNOPSIS
     SystemStarter [-gvxdDqn] [action [service]]

DESCRIPTION
     The SystemStarter utility may be used to start, stop, and restart the system services which are
     described in the /Library/StartupItems/ and /System/Library/StartupItems/ paths.

     The optional action argument specifies which action SystemStarter performs on the startup items.  The
     optional service argument specifies which startup items to perform the action on.  If no service is
     specified, all startup items will be acted on; otherwise, only the item providing the service, any
     items it requires, or any items that depend on it will be acted on.

     During boot SystemStarter is invoked by rc (see rc(8)) and is responsible for starting all startup
     items in an order that satisfies each item's requirements.

ACTIONS
     start    start all items, or start the item that provides the specified service and all items providing
              services it requires.

     stop     stop all items, or stop the item that provides the specified service and all items that depend
              on it.

     restart  restart all items, or restart the item providing the specified service.

OPTIONS
     -g       (ignored)

     -v       verbose (text mode) startup

     -x       (ignored)

     -r       (ignored)

     -d       print debugging output

     -D       print debugging output and dependencies

     -q       be quiet (disable debugging output)

     -n       don't actually perform action on items (no-run mode)

NOTES
     Unless an explicit call to ConsoleMessage is made, SystemStarter examines the exit status of the
     startup item scripts to determine the success or failure of the services provided by that script.

     In Darwin it is preferable to create custom startup items than to modify rc, and at some point
     SystemStarter may entirely encompass the role of rc.

FILES
     /Library/StartupItems/         User-installed startup items.
     /System/Library/StartupItems/  System-provided startup items.

SEE ALSO
     ConsoleMessage(8)

     rc(8)

HISTORY
     The SystemStarter utility appeared in Darwin 1.0

     SystemStarter was extended in Darwin 6.0 to support partial startup and interprocess communication.

Darwin                          April 12, 2002                          Darwin