/sbin/reboot

[Mark Andrews]

In message <AANLkTikgGSyRLnDS6Oihw2u3SYjeZRrQWdSa9Z4t7UAE at mail.gmail.com>, Adam
 Vande More writes:
> On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 12:03 AM, Kevin Oberman <oberman at es.net> wrote:
> 
> > Unlike reboot, shutdown attempts to cleanly stop all processes. Things
> > like databases can be badly damaged by a reboot. Other processes save
> > state when stopped and that is lost with a reboot.
> >
> 
> For the correct order, "shutdown -r" calls reboot which calls init which
> calls rc.shutdown.
> 
> Doing a shutdown -r is the same as a reboot without the warning to logged in
> users and shutdown handles the logging instead of reboot.
> 
> > Also, halt/reboot have options like -n and -q which can disrupt things
> worse than an unintended clean reboot.
> 
> shutdown also give operator more possibilities than a clean shutdown some
> which could be very bad.
> 
> -- 
> Adam Vande More

When you have administered multi-user systems you learn to do things
gracefully unless you actually need to do things abbruptly.

The operator group is for tape operators to be able shut the system
down to perform backups.  Telling people that the system is going
down allows them to save work.  You don't want tape operators to
just bring the system down without notice if it can be avoided.
Not giving the operator a command which will shut the system down
without notice prevents this.

Even "shutdown -r now" informs users that the system is going away
and has not just crashed.

With single user systems this isn't such a issue.

Mark
-- 
Mark Andrews, ISC
1 Seymour St., Dundas Valley, NSW 2117, Australia
PHONE: +61 2 9871 4742                 INTERNET: marka at isc.org