A look at /etc/rcN.d/ bash$ ls /etc/rc5.d/ S10sysklogd S14ppp S20makedev S40hotplug S89cron S99rmnologin S11klogd S20inetd S20samba S80cupsys S91apache S12kerneld S20logoutd S20ssh S89atd S99kdm contains simlinks (symbolic links) to commands / services all are run in sequence; first the 'K' (for Kill) then the 'S' (for Start) the simlinks are actually to files in /etc/init.d