Big Surprise! Where did the /etc/inittab file go ???

This is what happens when you switch technologies..

Its like going back to your old mate with out knowing what happened while you were away..

One file that my seniors/ Unix gurus @HCL adviced me to be very careful with is /etc/inittab while teaching me the ABC's of SCO Unix and Linux.. They said..

It is Systems Configuration Database.
The system (init process ) reads configuration from this file.
If this file is corrupt you are GONE.

I do respect my seniors and gurus.. I always used to take back up of those files before editing / changing them..

Time moved on.. My new role is purely a windows based role.. Since I knew nothing in windows, I had to put in lot of efforts to learn some thing about the OS.. Result, I had to leave my long time buddy, linux..

Old habits die hard.. When I got some spare time, I decided to install the latest Ubuntu version and try out my memory.. type couple of ls, clear commands.. ;-).. seeing the black screen I got nostalgic and missed the "vi" badly.. And how can I forget the /etc/inittab file.. Alas !! the file was not present..
I was pretty sure.. I am out now.. I knew a bit of linux... no longer true..

UPSTART he has taken my init away..

"Upstart is an event-based replacement for the /sbin/init daemon which handles starting of tasks and services during boot, stopping them during shutdown and supervising them while the system is running. "

Feature Highlights

• Tasks and Services are started and stopped by events


• Events are generated as tasks and services are started and stopped


• Events may be received from any other process on the system


• Services may be respawned if they die unexpectedly


• Supervision and respawning of daemons which separate from their parent process

Communication with the init daemon over D-Bus

Known Users

• Ubuntu 6.10 and later


• Fedora 9 and later


• Debian (as an option)


• Nokia's Maemo platform


• Palm's WebOS


• Google's Chrome OS

http://upstart.ubuntu.com/

Atleast now I will ask my friend who call me up still to find out if there are any linux residue left about the distribution they are using before asking them to edit the /etc/inittab..