Run script with rc local script works but not at boot

Question

I have a node js script which need to start at boot and run under the www-data user  During development I always started the script with   su www-data -c  node  var www php-jobs manager js   I saw exactly what happened  the manager js works now great  Searching SO I found I had to place this in my  etc rc local  Also  I learned to point the output to a log file and to append the 2 gt  amp 1 to  redirect stderr to stdout  and it should be a daemon so the last character is a  amp    Finally  my  etc rc local looks like this      bin sh -e     rc local     This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel    Make sure that the script will  exit 0  on success or any other   value on error      In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution   bits      By default this script does nothing   su www-data -c  node  var www php-jobs manager js  gt  gt   var log php-jobs log 2 gt  amp 1  amp    exit 0   If I run this myself  sudo  etc rc local   yes  it works  However  if I perform a reboot no node process is running  the  var log php-jobs log does not exist and thus  the manager js does not work  What is happening

User · Answer

rc local only runs on startup   If you reboot and want the script to execute  it needs to go into the rc 0 file starting with the K99 prefix

User · Answer

I got my script to work by editing  etc rc local then issuing the following 3 commands   sudo mv  filename  etc init d  sudo chmod  x  etc init d filename  sudo update-rc d filename defaults   Now the script works at boot

User · Answer

On some linux s  Centos  amp  RH  e g     etc rc local is initially just a symbolic link to  etc rc d rc local   On those systems  if the symbolic link is broken  and  etc rc local is a separate file  then changes to  etc rc local won t get seen at bootup -- the boot process will run the version in  etc rc d    They ll work if one runs  etc rc local manually  but won t be run at bootup    Sounds like on dimadima s system  they are separate files  but  etc rc d rc local calls  etc rc local  The symbolic link from  etc rc local to the  real  one in  etc rc d can get lost if one moves rc local to a backup directory and copies it back or creates it from scratch  not realizing the original one in  etc was just a symbolic link

User · Answer

This is most probably caused by a missing or incomplete PATH environment variable   If you provide full absolute paths to your executables  su and node  it will work

User · Answer

first make the script executable using sudo chmod 755  path of the file sh now add the script in the rc local  sh  path of the file sh before exit 0 in the rc local  next make the rc local to executable with sudo chmod 755  etc rc local next to initialize the rc local use sudo  etc init d rc local start this will initiate the rc local now reboot the system  Done

User · Answer

1 Do not recommend using root to run the apps such as node app   Well you can do it but may catch more exceptions   2 The rc local normally runs as root user   So if the your script should runs as another user such as www U should make sure the PATH and other environment is ok   3 I find a easy way to run a service as a user   sudo -u www -i  the path of your script  Please prefer the sudo manual         -i  command                     The -i  simulate initial login  option runs the shell specified by the password database entry of the target user as a loginshell

User · Answer

It is my understanding that if you place your script in a certain RUN Level  you should use ln -s to link the script to the level you want it to work in

User · Answer

In this example of a rc local script I use io redirection at the very first line of execution to my own log file      bin sh -e     rc local     This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel    Make sure that the script will  exit 0  on success or any other   value on error      In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution   bits      By default this script does nothing   exec 2 gt   tmp rc local log    send stderr from rc local to a log file exec 1 gt  amp 2                        send stdout to the same log file set -x                           tell sh to display commands before execution   opt stuff somefancy error script sh  exit 0

User · Answer

You might also have made it work by specifying the full path to node  Furthermore  when you want to run a shell command as a daemon you should close stdin by adding 1 lt  amp - before the  amp

User · Answer

I found that because I was using a network-oriented command in my rc local  sometimes it would fail  I fixed this by putting sleep 3 at the top of my script  I don t know why but it seems when the script is run the network interfaces aren t properly configured or something  and this just allows some time for the DHCP server or something  I don t fully understand but I suppose you could give it a try

User · Answer

if you are using linux on cloud  then usually you don t have chance to touch the real hardware using  your hands   so you don t see the configuration interface when booting for the first time  and of course cannot configure it  As a result  the firstboot service will always be in the way to rc local  The solution is to disable firstboot by doing   sudo chkconfig firstboot off   if you are not sure why your rc local does not run  you can always check from  etc rc d rc file because this file will always run and call other subsystems  e g  rc local

User · Answer

In Ubuntu I noticed there are 2 files  The real one is  etc init d rc local  it seems the other  etc rc local is bogus   Once I modified the correct one   etc init d rc local  it did execute just as expected

User · Answer

I ended up with upstart  which works fine

User · Answer

I have used rc local in the past  But I have learned from my experience that the most reliable way to run your script at the system boot time is is to use  reboot command in crontab  For example    reboot path to the start up script sh

User · Answer

I am using CentOS 7      cd   etc profile d    vim yourstuffs sh   Type the following into the yourstuffs sh script   type whatever you want here to execute  export LD LIBRARY PATH  usr local cuda-7 0 lib64  LD LIBRARY PATH   Save and reboot the OS

User · Answer

I had the same problem  on CentOS 7  and I fixed it by giving execute permissions to  etc local   chmod  x  etc rc local

[linux] Run script with rc.local: script works, but not at boot

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