Initng
Process implementation in Unix-like computer systems
title: "Initng" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["process-(computing)"] description: "Process implementation in Unix-like computer systems" topic_path: "technology/operating-systems" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initng" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Process implementation in Unix-like computer systems ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Initng |
| logo | [[Image:Initng logo little.png |
| author | Jimmy Wennlund |
| developer | Initng contributors |
| released | |
| latest_release_version | 2.6.10 |
| latest_release_date | |
| programming_language | C |
| platform | Cross-platform |
| operating_system | Unix-like |
| genre | init |
| language | English |
| license | GNU General Public License |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = Initng | logo = [[Image:Initng logo little.png|Initng logo]] | author = Jimmy Wennlund | developer = Initng contributors | released = | latest_release_version = 2.6.10 | latest_release_date = | programming_language = C | platform = Cross-platform | operating_system = Unix-like | genre = init | language = English | license = GNU General Public License | website =
Initng is a full replacement of the UNIX System V init, the first process spawned by the kernel in Unix-like computer operating systems, which is responsible for the initialization of every other process. Initng's website calls initng "The next generation init system".
Purpose
Many implementations of init (including Sysvinit used in many Linux distributions) start processes in a pre-determined order, and only start a process once the previous process finishes its initialization.
Initng starts a process as soon as all of its dependencies are met. It can start several processes in parallel. Initng is designed to significantly increase the speed of booting a Unix-compatible system by starting processes asynchronously. Initng's supporters claim that it also gives the user more statistics and control over the system.
Development
Despite being still considered beta, it was chosen as the default init system for Pingwinek, Enlisy, Berry Linux and Bee.
Also there are packages for many distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedora, as well as ebuilds for Gentoo and spells for Source Mage.
Contrary to other similar projects, it features a portable and flexible code base, more suited for embedded usage, and has been already ported to other operating systems like Haiku and FreeBSD.
It was created by Jimmy Wennlund. The current maintainer and project lead is Ismael Luceno.
Awards
In *Linux Format*s Issue 72, in November 2005, InitNG received the Hottest Pick Award.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::