Starting mprime at boot

[daxmick]

Us Linux folk have options on how our system boots. That said, most modern flavors of Linux have converted to something called "systemd". This boot "manager" starts daemons differently than us grey beards are used to. So, I thought I'd document what/how I've done to get my systemd machine (aka Ubuntu 17.10) to run mprime at bootup.

Note: Use these steps after you have ran mprime -m to configure your system's profile.

First, change directory to the location where the boot scripts are stored:

cd /etc/systemd/system

Create a new file. I called mine mprime.service:

sudo nano mprime.service

Insert the following into that file:

[Unit]
Description=GIMPS mprime service
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=daxm
WorkingDirectory=/home/daxm/mersenne/mprime
ExecStart=/home/daxm/mersenne/mprime/mprime -d
Restart=on-abort

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Change the "User", "WorkingDirectory" and "ExecStart" to lines to be what works for your setup and where you installed mprime.

Save that file by typing control-x press y and then press ENTER.

Change the file to be executable with this command:

sudo chmod 755 mprime.service

Now that the file exists and is executable we need to let the systemd process know to run it at bootup. Issue the following command to do so:

sudo systemctl enable mprime.service

Issue the following command to manually start this service.

systemctl start mprime.service

Verify it loaded correctly with this command:

sudo systemctl status mprime.service

Reboot your box. Then rerun the verification commands to see if your mprime service is running!

If you modify your mprime.service file. You'll need to issue the following command to reload systemd with the changes:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Happy GIMPS'ing!

[daxmick]

I forgot to attribute my learning about how to build a Unit file. I used the following website:
https://www.devdungeon.com/content/c...-service-files

[Dubslow]

Surely the final command could be replaced with something like systemctl reload mprime.service? So that systemctl doesn't reload *all* running services, rather just the one you want.

[daxmick]

Originally Posted by Dubslow

Surely the final command could be replaced with something like systemctl reload mprime.service? So that systemctl doesn't reload *all* running services, rather just the one you want.

Good catch. I didn't see that. (I was caught up in formatting the post message.) Doh! However, reload isn't an option. It's restart. :-)

sudo systemctl restart mprime.service

[daxmick]

As an aside, you can use the following command to look at the "log" for this service:

journalctl -u mprime.service

[Dubslow]

Originally Posted by daxmick

Doh! However, reload isn't an option. It's restart. :-)

sudo systemctl restart mprime.service

Ah yes, I forgot that mprime isn't such sophisticated software as, say, an HTTP server or ssh daemon

[TheJudger]

There is no need to set the executable bit on mprime.service.

Oliver

[daxmick]

Originally Posted by TheJudger

There is no need to set the executable bit on mprime.service.

Oliver

To be honest, I wasn't sure. It makes sense that you wouldn't but I did what I learned. :-)

[heliosh]

Thanks for sharing. This could be in the mprime package.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by heliosh

Thanks for sharing. This could be in the mprime package.

Don't forget the Slackware users who still have init!

[daxmick]

Originally Posted by Nick

Don't forget the Slackware users who still have init!

Wow. Slackware. Now there is an OS that I haven't run in... 15 years.