epics-base/documentation/new-notes/PR-558.md

New atInit IOC Shell Command Added

The pull request PR #558 introduces a new IOC shell command atInit to EPICS Base, which allows users to schedule arbitrary commands to be executed automatically after the IOC initialization phase (iocInit).

The module allows you to write better-structured ioc shell files to include in your startup scripts without tracking where iocInit is located (and how IOC is deployed) e.g.:

• to achieve the best maintainability,
• to improve writing boot sequences,
• to improve IOC startup flexibility and scripting capabilities.

Features

• Define commands that run after IOC initialization completes.
• Overwrites autosave to ensure proper configuration of the required PV.
• Supports any valid IOC shell command as an argument.
• Example usages:
  • atInit "dbpf <PV> <VAL>"
  • atInit "date"

Testing

• Unit tests have been added to verify:
  • Registration and execution of commands scheduled with atInit.
  • Proper handling of empty or invalid commands without crashing the IOC.
  • Execution order and environment variable effects.