Ever had your Linux machine freeze up completely? It happens to the best of us. Before you reach for that power button, let me introduce you to a much cooler, gentler way to reboot: REISUB.
What’s REISUB?
REISUB is a sequence of keystrokes that allows you to safely restart a locked-up Linux system without the risk of data loss. It’s like CPR for your computer—bringing it back to life without the hard reset.
How to Perform a REISUB Reboot
- Hold down
Alt+SysRq(that’s the Print Screen key) at the same time. - Type the letters
R,E,I,S,U,B—in that order, with a 2-3 second pause between each one. This gives the system time to process each command.
Here’s what each letter does:
- R: Puts the keyboard back in raw mode (from XLATE mode)
- E: Sends a SIGTERM to all processes except the system’s init process
- I: Sends a SIGKILL to all processes except init
- S: Syncs all mounted filesystems, ensuring data is saved
- U: Remounts all filesystems in read-only mode, to protect data
- B: Reboots the system immediately, without unmounting filesystems
Remembering REISUB
Need a fun way to remember REISUB? Try these mnemonics:
- “Raising Elephants Is So Utterly Boring” – because waiting for a frozen system can be mind-numbing!
- “Reboot Even If System Utterly Broken” – for when everything’s gone south.
- “Rise up” (from the dead, if you’re into zombie flicks).
Or just think of it as BUSIER spelled backwards—because let’s face it, your system probably froze because it was too busy.
Learn More
Curious about the other Alt+SysRq functions? Dive deeper into the magic of the SysRq key on Wikipedia.
Sources:
Keep this trick in your back pocket—it just might save the day!
