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Is ubuntu's /etc/init.d directory exactly equivalent (functionally) to what I presume to be the more standard /etc/rc.d/ (at least on arch)? Is there any particular reason canonical used init.d instead of rc.d for startup scripts?

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actually arch linux is the only distro that uses /etc/rc.d that I've seen... I suspect it might be used in bsd. – xenoterracide♦ Oct 26 '10 at 22:24

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Ubuntu uses /etc/init.d to store SysVinit scripts because Ubuntu is based on Debian and that's what Debian uses. Red Hat uses /etc/rc.d/init.d. I forget what Slackware uses. There just isn't a standard location.

Ubuntu is in the process of switching from SysVinit to Upstart, which uses configuration files in /etc/init.

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Sorry, but /etc/init.d is the standard, as part of the SVR4 standard that Linux start scripts copied. – Rich Homolka Oct 26 '10 at 23:17
Upstart's website claims Ubuntu has been using it since version 6.10 – badp Jan 16 '11 at 13:05
@badp: Though 6.10, still used SysV-style init scripts in /etc/init.d. The transition to /etc/init/*.conf started later (8.04 was still all SysV-style, 10.04 was already transitioning). – Gilles Jan 16 '11 at 13:33
up vote 4 down vote

Slackware still uses /etc/rc.d

FreeBSD uses /etc/rc.d and /usr/local/etc/rc.d

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/etc/init.d was the old historical location for SVR4. I forgot why redhat added the /etc/rc.d/ level. I think to isolate things onto rc.d, but then needed to add a bunch of symlinks anyway for backwards compatibility. So there is /etc/init.d in redhat, just it symlinks elsewhere.

So the standard location is /etc/init.d, though it may be a symlink not a real directory.

There were some really old Linux distros that copied BSD with /etc/rc.local but pretty much no one uses that anymore.

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