# upstart and booting with init=/bin/bash


One of the oldest tricks in the sys admin's arsenal is 
booting with `init=/bin/bash`. You'll need this when 
you want to reset the password for root for instance.

It used to go like this: Boot with `init=/bin/bash` and
after some time you greeted with a prompt ala

    root@(none):/# 

Most often I then took the following steps:

    mount -o rw,remount /
    /etc/init.d/networking start

Now you also have networking, so you may upgrade the
system with `apt-get` or whatever... You are now a
happy puppy.

# upstart

Now enter `upstart`, the new `init`-replacement from Ubuntu, while
I like the idea some things are of course changed for the worse. When
you boot a system with `upstart` in `init=/bin/bash`-mode, the following
happens:

    root@(none):/# mount -o rw,remount /
    root@(none):/# /etc/init.d/networking start
    Rather than invoking init scripts through /etc/init.d, use the service(8)
    utility, e.g. service networking start

    Since the script you are attempting to invoke has been converted to an
    Upstart job, you may also use the start(8) utility, e.g. start networking
    Rather than invoking init scripts through /etc/init.d, use the service(8)
    utility, e.g. service networking start

    Since the script you are attempting to invoke has been converted to an
    Upstart job, you may also use the start(8) utility, e.g. start networking
    start: Unable to connect to Upstart: Failed to connect to socket
    /com/ubuntu/upstart: Connection refused

Go figure; you don't have a upstart running because "init" is now bash.
But this leaves me with a problem.

> How do you start networking in this case?

`ifup eth0` or `/etc/init.d/network-manager start` all complain with

    start: Unable to connect to Upstart: Failed to connect to socket
    /com/ubuntu/upstart: Connection refused

I have my server configured with DHCP, so as an act of final
desperation I used: 

    dhclient eth0
    
and that did the trick. 

If you have your interfaces specified in `/etc/network/interfaces` you
may need to cut&paste it and use the go'old `ifconfig` program.  If you
are lame enough to use `network-manager` *and* have configured it with a
static IP address you are on your own.

# Single user mode
You may be able to get away with all this crap, by starting your
system in single user mode (just a `S` to your grub line). But
Debian/Ubuntu may then ask you for the root password. I never really
like this single user mode - I want the power of `init=/bin/bash`.