Linux Kernel Module Cheat

17.17.2.1. Ctrl Alt Del

./run --graphic

and then from the graphic window you enter the keys:

Ctrl-Alt-Del

then this runs the following command on the guest:

/sbin/reboot

This is enabled from our rootfs_overlay/etc/inittab:

::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/reboot

This leads Linux to try to reboot, and QEMU shutdowns due to the -no-reboot option which we set by default for, see: Section 17.6.1.3, “Exit emulator on panic”.

Here is a minimal example of Ctrl Alt Del:

./run --kernel-cli 'init=/lkmc/linux/ctrl_alt_del.out' --graphic

Source: userland/linux/ctrl_alt_del.c

When you hit Ctrl-Alt-Del in the guest, our tiny init handles a SIGINT sent by the kernel and outputs to stdout:

cad

To map between man 2 reboot and the uClibc RB_* magic constants see:

less "$(./getvar buildroot_build_build_dir)"/uclibc-*/include/sys/reboot.h"

The procfs mechanism is documented at:

less linux/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt

which says:

When the value in this file is 0, ctrl-alt-del is trapped and
sent to the init(1) program to handle a graceful restart.
When, however, the value is > 0, Linux's reaction to a Vulcan
Nerve Pinch (tm) will be an immediate reboot, without even
syncing its dirty buffers.

Note: when a program (like dosemu) has the keyboard in 'raw'
mode, the ctrl-alt-del is intercepted by the program before it
ever reaches the kernel tty layer, and it's up to the program
to decide what to do with it.

Under the hood, behaviour is controlled by the reboot syscall:

man 2 reboot

reboot system calls can set either of the these behaviours for Ctrl-Alt-Del:

do a hard shutdown syscall. Set in uClibc C code with:
```
reboot(RB_ENABLE_CAD)
```
or from procfs with:
```
echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/ctrl-alt-del
```
Done by BusyBox' reboot -f.
send a SIGINT to the init process. This is what BusyBox' init does, and it then execs the string set in inittab.

Set in uclibc C code with:
```
reboot(RB_DISABLE_CAD)
```
or from procfs with:
```
echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/ctrl-alt-del
```
Done by BusyBox' reboot.

When a BusyBox init is with the signal, it prints the following lines:

The system is going down NOW!
Sent SIGTERM to all processes
Sent SIGKILL to all processes
Requesting system reboot

On busybox-1.29.2’s init at init/init.c we see how the kill signals are sent:

static void run_shutdown_and_kill_processes(void)
{
	/* Run everything to be run at "shutdown".  This is done _prior_
	 * to killing everything, in case people wish to use scripts to
	 * shut things down gracefully... */
	run_actions(SHUTDOWN);

	message(L_CONSOLE | L_LOG, "The system is going down NOW!");

	/* Send signals to every process _except_ pid 1 */
	kill(-1, SIGTERM);
	message(L_CONSOLE, "Sent SIG%s to all processes", "TERM");
	sync();
	sleep(1);

	kill(-1, SIGKILL);
	message(L_CONSOLE, "Sent SIG%s to all processes", "KILL");
	sync();
	/*sleep(1); - callers take care about making a pause */
}

and run_shutdown_and_kill_processes is called from:

/* The SIGPWR/SIGUSR[12]/SIGTERM handler */
static void halt_reboot_pwoff(int sig) NORETURN;
static void halt_reboot_pwoff(int sig)

which also prints the final line:

	message(L_CONSOLE, "Requesting system %s", m);

which is set as the signal handler via TODO.

Bibliography: