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-dat         


        

Answer 1

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..

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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<&- before the &.