On 4.3 BSD systems, the init program is the last step in the boot procedure. The main role of the init program is to create processes for each available terminal port. The available terminal ports are found by reading the /etc/ttys file.
On System V, the init program is started at system initialization. The init process starts processes according to entries in the /etc/inittab file.
AIX follows the System V initialization procedure. You can edit the AIX /etc/inittab file by directly editing the file, using the telinit command, or by using the following AIX commands:
| chitab(1) | Changes records in the /etc/inittab file. |
| lsitab(1) | Lists records in the /etc/inittab file. |
| mkitab(1) | Makes records in the /etc/inittab file. |
| rmitab(1) | Removes records in the /etc/inittab file. |
Changes made to the /etc/inittab file take effect the next time the system is rebooted, or when the telinit q command is run.