How to run a shell script at startup

In the file you put in /etc/init.d/ you have to set it executable with:

chmod +x /etc/init.d/start_my_app

Thanks to @meetamit, if this does not run you have to create a symlink to /etc/rc.d/

ln -s /etc/init.d/start_my_app /etc/rc.d/

Please note that on latest Debian, this will not work as your script have to be LSB compliant (provide, at least, the following actions: start, stop, restart, force-reload, and status)

As a note, you should put the absolute path of your script instead of a relative one, it may solves unexpected issues:

/var/myscripts/start_my_app

And don't forget to add on top of that file:

#!/bin/sh

4 years ago

Set a crontab for this

#crontab -e

@reboot  /home/user/test.sh

after every startup it will run the test script.

4 years ago

A simple approach is to add a line in /etc/rc.local :

/PATH/TO/MY_APP &
or if you want to run the command as a special user :

su - USER_FOOBAR -c /PATH/TO/MY_APP &
(the trailing ampersand backgrounds the process and allows the rc.local to continue executing)

If you want a full init script, debian distro have a template file, so :

cp /etc/init.d/skeleton /etc/init.d/your_app
and adapt it a bit.

4 years ago