HowTo use Finit to boot a Debian GNU/Linux system. It is assumed that the user has already installed a compiler, C library header files, and other tools needed to build a GNU configure based project. I.e., at the very least:
root@debian:~# apt install build-essential
Like the Alpine HowTo, you need to install libuEv and
libite, but since this is Debian — which takes infinite care of its
users ♥ ♥ ♥ we don't need to worry about pkg-config, except for having
it installed so it can locate the uEv and lite libraries.
With Debian everything just works!™
... just make sure to install the following, so ifup and other basic
tools pre-systemd work as intended.
root@debian:~# apt install initscripts console-setup
Note: as of Debian 11 (Bullseye), libuev and libite are part of the main section of Debian. So just install the -dev packages :)
The following script can then be used to configure, build, install and set up your system to run Finit:
user@debian:~/finit$ contrib/debian/build.sh
However, since /sbin/init already exists on your system, the script
creates another entry in your GRUB config by updating $SUPPORTED_INITS
in /etc/grub.d/10_inux and run update-grub. On reboot you will find
a (finit) entry in the "Advanced options for Debian GNU/Linux" section.
It is of course also possible to change the default init to Finit:
user@debian:~/finit# cd /sbin
user@debian:/sbin# sudo mv init oldinit
user@debian:/sbin# sudo ln -s finit init
Before rebooting, check the default /etc/finit.conf and
/etc/finit.d/*.conf files. The build + install script above provides
a few sample .conf files. See initctl ls after boot for a list of
enabled and available services, you can then use enable and disable
comands to initctl, followed by reload to activate your changes.
You can also use a standard /etc/rc.local for one-shot tasks and initialization like keyboard language etc.
NOTE: X Window system, you may need to
sudo apt install elogind(Bullseye and later), followed byinitctl reloadto activate it (it is enabled by default), and logout/login again. The elogind daemon ensures a regular non-root user can start and interact with an X session, otherwise keyboard and mouse won't work. When you're happy, you can enable the lightdm.conf, change the default runlevel to 3, and presto! you have a desktop again.
Have fun!
/Joachim ツ