Ubuntu12.04: How to disable a daemon process at startup

Question

I normally use service start/stop or initctl start/stop to start or stop a daemon process but now what I am looking for is to disable a daemon process from starting at startup example mysqld.

Currently what am doing is renaming /etc/init/mysql.conf to /etc/init/mysql.conf.bak but after reading a little about systemd I came to know that it provides enable & disable option for the above task.

So, is there something similar in ubuntu 12.04 with upstart.

Solution 1

You can disable services by running the following command:

sudo update-rc.d -f <service name> disable

Man page excerpt:

When run with the disable [ S|2|3|4|5 ] options, update-rc.d modifies existing runlevel links for the script /etc/init.d/name by renaming start links to stop links with a sequence number equal to the difference of 100 minus the original sequence number.

Solution 2

The correct way to disable and upstart service, is create a XX.override file,

echo 'manual' > /etc/init/mysqld.override

That way the upstart service will not get started automatically

Solution 3

@warl0ck has it right; wanted to add that this information is documented quite well in the Upstart documentation: http://upstart.ubuntu.com/cookbook/#disabling-a-job-from-automatically-starting

Specifically:

With Upstart 1.3, you can make use of override files and the manual stanza to achieve the same result in a simpler manner [27]:

# echo "manual" >> /etc/init/myjob.override

Note that you could achieve the same effect by doing this:

# echo "manual" >> /etc/init/myjob.conf

However, using the override facility means you can leave the original job configuration file untouched.

To revert to the original behaviour, either delete or rename the override file (or remove the manual stanza from your ".conf" file).

Solution 4

There is also a nice piece of software to assist in this. Its called rcconf.

Just download it using:

sudo apt-get install rcconf

and use it with the command

rcconf

You get a nice (commandline) interface to disable/enable services.

Solution 5

Try navigate to /etc/rc2.d and rename what you wish not to run at startup: change the (initial, capital) "S" into a "K" (e.g., S02mysql to K02mysql). If you change your mind, just reverse it. I think the 2 refers to runlevel, in what case 2 is the default, multiuser runlevel. Probably that's where you have most of the stuff for day-to-day computer use.

Edit: Read James O'Gorman's comment below.

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Comments

[Admin]

You say you are using systemd? I use it on my Fedora 17 computer. systemctl [enable|disable|is-enabled] mysqld.service

[Admin]

@BenjiWiebe: No I am not using systemd. I am using upstart because systemd is not the default in ubuntu 12.04/12.10.

[RanRag]

Yes '2' refer to the run-level. You can check your current run-level using who -r or runlevel.

[Emanuel Berg]

That's true, who --runlevel.

[James O'Gorman]

While this achieves what you want, it's technically the wrong thing to do. In SysV init terms, 'S' scripts are start scripts and 'K' are kill scripts - i.e. S are run in order at startup and K are run in order at shutdown (or changing to a lower runlevel).

[Emanuel Berg]

@JamesO'Gorman: Interesting, I'm on Debian, are you saying my "K scripts" are run at shutdown? Is there some letter that could be used to disable the script altogether, with no hazard whatsoever? (It is kind of practical to keep them in the same folder, should a new situation arise where you'd want them.)

[James O'Gorman]

@EmanuelBerg Yes, init will be running 'KXXscript stop' at shutdown. You should either remove the symlink or remove the execute bit from the real init script. I believe Debian uses update-rc.d to manage this. RHEL (and derivatives) use chkconfig.

[JustinC]

The question is about a hypothetical or in-general situation using mysql as a particular topical case. OP seemed at least partially aware of this answer, but it may serve posterity well to note that some useful packages don't and won't honor the upstart format (like webmin and many self-built from source packages around the time of comment). That means this method can be a valid partial answer for context, much like warl0ck and Mark's answers do to address the particular point of the hypothetical mysql service installed with a package manager.

[RSK]

Is this still works with Ubuntu 12.04?

[daisy]

@RSK yes, why don't you just give it a try?

[RSK]

I tried and didn't worked for me. Lemme try again and will update you.

[dannyman]

The -f flag is not needed.

[Hi-Angel]

No, it doesn't work on Ubuntu-14.04.

[m3nda]

This is not included on the system, so install more stuff woudn't be the better answer.

[Dmitry Koroliov]

@RSK yes, why don't you just give it a try? I suppose, because it is very inconvenient to restart the system with "a try" to every advise from this page.

[Magico]

but really usefull :D

[SineSwiper]

This is for init.d, not systemd, which most modern Linux systems use nowadays.