On Mar 19, 2013, at 1:31 PM, Fred Smith wrote: > On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 01:25:27PM -0700, Craig White wrote: >> On Mar 19, 2013, at 9:44 AM, Fred Smith wrote: >> >>> just to be sure I'm clear: the shutdown command appears to be sent >>> to windows, as I desire. then instead of honoring the "+5" in the >>> local shutdown command it shuts down immediately. >>> >>> but if I just run the identical script from a commandline it does >>> exactly what I think it should: (1) tells windows to shut down then (2) >>> waits 5 mins before shutting down Linux. >> ---- >> sounds as if there is another daemon that is processing the signal from the UPS system and initiating the power down rendering the 5 minute wait in your script moot. > > Well, factor this in, then: > the original powerfail entry in inittab was the same as the shutdown > command in my script EXCEPT for the lengthy command that makes windows > shutdown. It uses exactly the same "shutdown..." command, and as long > as that command is inside inittab, when powerfail occurs, the pause > also occurs. only when I move it out to the external script does the > pause fail to happen. ---- having the commands in an external script would fork a new process outside of the inittab so if it were me, I would simply join the commands to run as one within the inittab i.e.. /usr/bin/net rpc SHUTDOWN -C \ "System shutting down NOW due to power failure" \ -f -I 172.19.23.120 \ -U <myusername>%<mypassword> && \ /sbin/shutdown -f -h +5 \ "Power Failure; System Shutting Down" I can't see /bin/sh or /bin/bash making any difference in the outcome anyway. Craig