Where Does Devuan Store Services and Package Cache?
Devuan caches apt packages in /var/cache/apt/archives and manages services through sysvinit scripts in /etc/init.d, with runlevels linked from /etc/rc*.d.
Last updated
Devuan is Debian with sysvinit instead of systemd. Package storage is pure Debian: downloaded .debs wait in /var/cache/apt/archives and clean with apt clean. Nothing to relearn there.
Services are where Devuan differs. They live as scripts in /etc/init.d with per runlevel symlinks under /etc/rc0.d through rc6.d. The service command and update-rc.d are the management tools. Units, timers, and journalctl simply do not exist here, which is the point of the distro.
Where Devuan stores this, by platform
/var/cache/apt/archives
Cached .deb packages, identical to Debian and Ubuntu. Empty with sudo apt clean. Safe to clear any time.
/etc/init.d
One script per service for sysvinit. Start, stop, and restart through these or the service wrapper. Custom services get added here by hand.
Frequently asked questions
How do I manage services on Devuan?
Use sudo service <name> start or the /etc/init.d/<name> script directly, and sudo update-rc.d <name> defaults to enable at boot. There is no systemctl, so Debian guides that assume systemd need translating. The init script headers document their own runlevels.
How do I see what starts at boot?
List /etc/rc2.d (the default multi user runlevel) and look for S prefixed symlinks. Each points back to a script in /etc/init.d. Disable one with sudo update-rc.d <name> disable rather than deleting the link.
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