Minix启动时 进程顺序

2.1.4. Process Hierarchies

 

As a simple example of how process trees are used, let us look at how MINIX 3 initializes itself. Two special processes, the reincarnation server and init are present in the boot image.

 

The reincarnation server's job is to (re)start drivers and servers. It begins by blocking, waiting for a message telling it what to create.

 

In contrast, init executes the /etc/rc script that causes it to issue commands to the reincarnation server to start the drivers and servers not present in the boot image. This procedure makes the drivers and servers so started children of the reincarnation server, so if any of them ever terminate, the reincarnation server will be informed and can restart (i.e., reincarnate) them again. This mechanism is intended to allow MINIX 3 to tolerate a driver or server crash because a new one will be started automatically. In practice, replacing a driver is much easier than replacing a server, however, since there fewer repercussions elsewhere in the system. (And, we do not say this always works perfectly; it is still work in progress.)

 

When init has finished this, it reads a configuration file /etc/ttytab) to see which terminals and virtual terminals exist. Init forks a getty process for each one, displays a login prompt on it, and then waits for input. When a name is typed, getty execs a login process with the name as its argument. If the user succeeds in logging in, login will exec the user's shell. So the shell is a child of init. User commands create children of the shell, which are grandchildren of init. This sequence of events is an example of how process trees are used. As an aside, the code for the reincarnation server and init is not listed in this book; neither is the shell. The line had to be drawn somewhere. But now you have the basic idea