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I was checking some sites for setting password protection in single user mode login in my Linux server (Oracle Enterprise Linux-OEL) .

In some places I saw the steps to add entry into inititab file like below .

su:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin

In some other places I could see adding the entry in /etc/sysconfig/init file like below .

SINGLE=/sbin/sulogin

So what is the difference in adding to any of these files . Are they doing the same task ? Basically I want to know if I add into any of the above file will it serve the purpose ?

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First thing to note is /etc/sysconfig/init is strictly a Redhat Linux (and derivatives) convention. You won't find that file on a Debian or Slackware system for instance.

Second note, recently, many distributions are unfortunately switching to SystemD which does not use /etc/inittab. If you need the simplicity of /etc/inittab, you may want to research the best distro for your needs which does not use SystemD of which there are only a handful (eg: Devuan, Slackware, Gentoo, et al.).

Also it's worth mentioning -- if you are trying to secure your linux system by way of sulogin (requiring a password when booted from single-user mode) be aware that anyone with a bootable USB stick, or CDROM can quite simply bypass sulogin by booting from another form of media.

It's quite difficult to secure physical access without cages and security cameras.

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  • My Linux version is Oracle Enterprise Linux(OEL) Dec 29, 2016 at 3:32

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