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While the raspi-config script makes for convenient setup on first boot, one of the reasons I have a Raspberry Pi is to help me learn what goes on behind the menu on my computers.

I would like to see the raspi-config script, and understand how it works. I found a partial script online, but it (apparently) only includes the portions which just edit the config.txt file, and I am interested in knowing what else it affects, and how.

I would like to see the full text for the raspi-script, and as yet have not found in in my file system. Can someone offer the location?

For the moment, I don't want explanation of how it does what it does. I want to try to figure it out myself. (Although that may be a later question.)

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All of these answers were correct, and helpful. I chose Steve's because I learned the most from it/him. – zenbike Jul 28 '12 at 10:59

3 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

Both of the other answers are correct and will let you view and study how the file works. However, with the idea of teaching you to fish rather than give you a fish, if you do the following it will help you find any file on your system.

sudo find / -name 'raspi-config'

Breaking it Down:

sudo tells the system to run this command with root privileges - this prevents lots of errors cluttering the system from directories that your regular user (pi) can't access.

find the name of the Linux command to find files and directories.

/ tells the find command to search the root of the filesystem and all its sub-directories.

-name tells the find command to search by the file name.

'raspi-config' this is the file name you are searching for.

to find a different file just replace the raspi-config with the name of the file you are looking for. There are many other options for the find command and you can find all of the details for most linux commands by typing

man find

on the command line.

Man is short for manual, and prints the manual page (help page) for the Linux command that follows it.

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Dude, we can teach people how to fish once this site is graduated. =P – Bryan Dunsmore Jul 28 '12 at 6:08
I like this mentality. Learning is why we're in to Pi. :) – zenbike Jul 28 '12 at 7:56
@zenbike Are you sure you typed it correctly? It works here no problem. – Steve Robillard Jul 28 '12 at 8:13
@zenbike you can also use the up arrow to see the commands you entered – Steve Robillard Jul 28 '12 at 8:16
@zenbike Are you sure? It may be off of the screen since that directory listing is very long. Try "ls | less" or "ls | more" this will let you move through the list using the page up/down or arrow keys. I leave it up to you to determine the diff between more and less (hint man less). BTW the | is called the pipe symbol and is used to take the output of one command ls and use it as input to the second command less or more in this case. – Steve Robillard Jul 28 '12 at 8:47
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The full path of the raspi-config file is /usr/bin/raspi-config:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ which raspi-config
/usr/bin/raspi-config
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which is a better answer than using find as it tells you which file is being called. find will both take longer and could turn up any number of files with the name you're searching for. – Oli Aug 23 '12 at 22:49

While I can't tell you exactly where to find raspi-config on your filesystem, the source for it is hosted on GitHub.

It's a tool created by asb who also appears to be a moderator on the official Raspberry Pi forums. You can find the source at asb/raspi-config.

Edit: This is the full code, here, as well, drawn from the git repo linked above:

#!/bin/sh
# Part of raspi-config http://github.com/asb/raspi-config
#
# See LICENSE file for copyright and license details


if [ $(id -u) -ne 0 ]; then
  printf "Script must be run as root. Try 'sudo raspi-config'\n"
  exit 1
fi

ASK_TO_REBOOT=0

do_info() {
  whiptail --msgbox "\
This tool provides a straight-forward way of doing initial 
configuration of the Raspberry Pi. Although it can be run 
at any time, some of the options may have difficulties if 
you have heavily customised your installation.\
" 20 70 1
}

do_expand_rootfs() {
  # Get the starting offset of the root partition
  PART_START=$(parted /dev/mmcblk0 -ms unit s p | grep "^2" | cut -f 2 -d:)
  [ "$PART_START" ] || return 1
  # Return value will likely be error for fdisk as it fails to reload the 
  # partition table because the root fs is mounted
  fdisk /dev/mmcblk0 <<EOF
p
d
2
n
p
2
$PART_START

p
w
EOF
  ASK_TO_REBOOT=1

  # now set up an init.d script
cat <<\EOF > /etc/init.d/resize2fs_once &&
#!/bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          resize2fs_once
# Required-Start:
# Required-Stop:
# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5 S
# Default-Stop:
# Short-Description: Resize the root filesystem to fill partition
# Description:
### END INIT INFO

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

case "$1" in
  start)
    log_daemon_msg "Starting resize2fs_once" &&
    resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p2 &&
    rm /etc/init.d/resize2fs_once &&
    update-rc.d resize2fs_once remove &&
    log_end_msg $?
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: $0 start" >&2
    exit 3
    ;;
esac
EOF
  chmod +x /etc/init.d/resize2fs_once &&
  update-rc.d resize2fs_once defaults &&
  whiptail --msgbox "Root partition has been resized.\n\
The filesystem will be enlarged upon the next reboot" 20 60 2
}

set_config_var() {
  lua - "$1" "$2" "$3" <<EOF > "$3.bak"
local key=assert(arg[1])
local value=assert(arg[2])
local fn=assert(arg[3])
local file=assert(io.open(fn))
local made_change=false
for line in file:lines() do
  if line:match("^#?%s*"..key.."=.*$") then
    line=key.."="..value
    made_change=true
  end
  print(line)
end

if not made_change then
  print(key.."="..value)
end
EOF
mv "$3.bak" "$3"
}

# $1 is 0 to disable overscan, 1 to disable it
set_overscan() {
  # Stop if /boot is not a mountpoint
  if ! mountpoint -q /boot; then
    return 1
  fi

  [ -e /boot/config.txt ] || touch /boot/config.txt

  if [ "$1" -eq 0 ]; then # disable overscan
    sed /boot/config.txt -i -e "s/^overscan_/#overscan_/"
    set_config_var disable_overscan 1 /boot/config.txt
  else # enable overscan
    set_config_var disable_overscan 0 /boot/config.txt
  fi
}

do_overscan() {
  whiptail --yesno "What would you like to do with overscan" 20 60 2 \
    --yes-button Disable --no-button Enable 
  RET=$?
  if [ $RET -eq 0 ] || [ $RET -eq 1 ]; then
    ASK_TO_REBOOT=1
    set_overscan $RET;
  else
    return 1
  fi
}

do_change_pass() {
  whiptail --msgbox "You will now be asked to enter a new password for the pi user" 20 60 1
  passwd pi &&
  whiptail --msgbox "Password changed successfully" 20 60 1
}

do_configure_keyboard() {
  dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration &&
  printf "Reloading keymap. This may take a short while\n" &&
  invoke-rc.d keyboard-setup start
}

do_change_locale() {
  dpkg-reconfigure locales
}

do_change_timezone() {
  dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
}

do_memory_split() {
  # Stop if /boot is not a mountpoint
  if ! mountpoint -q /boot; then
    return 1
  fi
  MEMSPLIT=$(whiptail --menu "Set memory split" 20 60 10 \
    "224" "224MiB for ARM, 32MiB for VideoCore" \
    "192" "192MiB for ARM, 64MiB for VideoCore" \
    "128" "128MiB for ARM, 128MiB for VideoCore" \
    3>&1 1>&2 2>&3)
  if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    cp -a /boot/arm${MEMSPLIT}_start.elf /boot/start.elf
    sync
    ASK_TO_REBOOT=1
  fi
}

do_ssh() {
  if [ -e /var/log/regen_ssh_keys.log ] && ! grep -q "^finished" /var/log/regen_ssh_keys.log; then
    whiptail --msgbox "Initial ssh key generation still running. Please wait and try again." 20 60 2
    return 1
  fi
  whiptail --yesno "Would you like the SSH server enabled or disabled?" 20 60 2 \
    --yes-button Enable --no-button Disable 
  RET=$?
  if [ $RET -eq 0 ]; then
    update-rc.d ssh enable &&
    invoke-rc.d ssh start &&
    whiptail --msgbox "SSH server enabled" 20 60 1
  elif [ $RET -eq 1 ]; then
    update-rc.d ssh disable &&
    whiptail --msgbox "SSH server disabled" 20 60 1
  else
    return $RET
  fi
}

do_boot_behaviour() {
  whiptail --yesno "Should we boot straight to desktop?" 20 60 2
  RET=$?
  if [ $RET -eq 0 ]; then # yes
    update-rc.d lightdm enable 2
    sed /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf -i -e "s/^#autologin-user=.*/autologin-user=pi/"
    ASK_TO_REBOOT=1
  elif [ $RET -eq 1 ]; then # no
    update-rc.d lightdm disable 2
    ASK_TO_REBOOT=1
  else # user hit escape
    return 1
  fi
}

do_update() {
  apt-get update &&
  apt-get install raspi-config &&
  printf "To start raspi-config again, do 'sudo raspi-config'. Now exiting\n"
  exit 0
}

do_finish() {
  if [ -e /etc/profile.d/raspi-config.sh ]; then
    rm -f /etc/profile.d/raspi-config.sh
    sed -i /etc/inittab \
      -e "s/^#\(.*\)#\s*RPICFG_TO_ENABLE\s*/\1/" \
      -e "/#\s*RPICFG_TO_DISABLE/d"
    telinit q
  fi
  if [ $ASK_TO_REBOOT -eq 1 ]; then
    whiptail --yesno "Would you like to reboot now?" 20 60 2
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then # yes
      sync
      reboot
    fi
  fi
  exit 0
}

while true; do
  FUN=$(whiptail --menu "Raspi-config" 20 80 12 --cancel-button Finish --ok-button Select \
    "info" "Information about this tool" \
    "expand_rootfs" "Expand root partition to fill SD card" \
    "overscan" "Change overscan" \
    "configure_keyboard" "Set keyboard layout" \
    "change_pass" "Change password for 'pi' user" \
    "change_locale" "Set locale" \
    "change_timezone" "Set timezone" \
    "memory_split" "Change memory split" \
    "ssh" "Enable or disable ssh server" \
    "boot_behaviour" "Start desktop on boot?" \
    "update" "Try to upgrade raspi-config" \
    3>&1 1>&2 2>&3)
  RET=$?
  if [ $RET -eq 1 ]; then
    do_finish
  elif [ $RET -eq 0 ]; then
    "do_$FUN" || whiptail --msgbox "There was an error running do_$FUN" 20 60 1
  else
    exit 1
  fi
done
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