Howto start mprime automically for (Debian) Linux

[lfm]

Originally Posted by joblack

I know but why did he write it.

By the way: su means 'substitute user' and not superuser (you can switch to another (normal) user as well).

he was suggesting you use the su command to run mprime as a normal user from the /etc/rc.local init file. its a good idea to not run stuff like mprime as root when it isn't needed.

[joblack]

Originally Posted by lfm

he was suggesting you use the su command to run mprime as a normal user from the /etc/rc.local init file. its a good idea to not run stuff like mprime as root when it isn't needed.

I don't run it as root as you can see under 'su $user -c ...'. The /etc/rc.local isn't LSB standard conform and can be found on SuSE machines.

[lfm]

Originally Posted by joblack

I don't run it as root as you can see under 'su $user -c ...'. The /etc/rc.local isn't LSB standard conform and can be found on SuSE machines.

yes, he was talking about ubuntu. On suse there is equivalent files in /etc/rc.d/rc.local or /etc/init.d/rc.local or something similar. Sometimes even more than one.

Frankly I don't recomend any of them, I prefer the crontab @reboot command.

[markr]

I tried the OP's method in Ubuntu, but all I got was this error message : "su: must be run from a terminal". I think they've disabled su in scripts as a security measure. A bit of googling only found people trying to run something as root in a script. I've set up the crontab @reboot method instead.

[nicko7i]

Originally Posted by lfm

An alternative that works well for me is:

echo "@reboot cd ~/gimps ; ./mprime & " | crontab -

Assuming you aren't already using crontab.

I wanted to elaborate on this suggestion. It took me a few tries to get it right, so maybe I can save someone some effort.

I installed the software in the directory '/opt/mprime'. This directory and all its files are owned by user 'nick'.

To have 'cron' automatically start the program, I created a file mprime in the /etc/cron.d directory. This file must be an ordinary text file; it must be owned by root; and it must not be write-able except by root. The file contains a single line:

@reboot nick /opt/mprime/mprime -w/opt/mprime

You can create the file with your favorite text editor, or by executing the following command (the "%" represents the prompt and is not typed as part of the command):

% sudo bash -c "echo '@reboot nick /opt/mprime/mprime -w/opt/mprime' > /etc/cron.d/mprime"

In my example, the program runs as user 'nick'. Replace 'nick' with the name of a non-privileged user and the path '/opt/mprime' with the complete path to the directory where 'mprime' lives.

If 'mprime' doesn't start after rebooting, you can check for an error message with this command:

% sudo fgrep cron /var/log/messages

I'm using SuSE 12.x. I believe this will also work on Debian/Ubuntu, but I have not tested that myself.

[ET_]

Five years have passed since the last message on topic.

Now, having Ubuntu, and wanting to run mprime in background (./mprime &) and unmanned at each restart of the computer, especially after a power blackout (quite frequent in this season in Italy), what script would you suggest?

I have seen flavours of init.d, crontab and rc.local, with pros and cons, and would appreciate your actual hint.

Thank you

[Mark Rose]

I still run it like this, in my personal crontab:

`@reboot screen -S mprime -d -m /path/to/mprime/mprime -d`

Then I can reattach to see the output whenever.

[ET_]

Originally Posted by Mark Rose

I still run it like this, in my personal crontab:

`@reboot screen -S mprime -d -m /path/to/mprime/mprime -d`

Then I can reattach to see the output whenever.

For some strange reason this same command does not run on my PC.
And yes, I used the correct directory

[Mark Rose]

Originally Posted by ET_

For some strange reason this same command does not run on my PC.
And yes, I used the correct directory

Might need to install `screen`. Or you could modify it to use `tmux`, if that's installed or you're more familiar with that.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by Mark Rose

Might need to install `screen`. Or you could modify it to use `tmux`, if that's installed or you're more familiar with that.

Or, to avoid any dependencies, I use this:

@reboot ~/prime/mprime -d </dev/null >>~/prime/mprime.log 2>/dev/null &

Then, if I want, I can log into the machine and "tail -f ~/prime/mprime.log".

[ET_]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Or, to avoid any dependencies, I use this:

@reboot ~/prime/mprime -d </dev/null >>~/prime/mprime.log 2>/dev/null &

Then, if I want, I can log into the machine and "tail -f ~/prime/mprime.log".

It looks like on Ubuntu 16, if you create a user's crontab, you need not insert the username before the command, or the command won't be executed...

Thanks Mark and Chris.