FAQ: Autostart / Autorun, Periodic run

[Rog132]

Starting/stopping things when the system is starting or shutting down.


> Upstart

Upstart is an event-based replacement for the /sbin/init daemon which handles starting of tasks and services during boot, stopping them during shutdown and supervising them while the system is running...

Few sublinks:
> Getting Started
> Upstart Intro, Cookbook and Best Practices
> FAQ

> Upstart Development Blog


"These are not really standards"
(but they are good suggestions)

> freedesktop.org
> Specifications
> Desktop Entry Specification
> Autostart Specification


KDE

> Autostart
> Chapter 4. Autostarting Applications and Run-Once Applications
> Aaron Seigo: autostarting apps in kde4


Autostart places:

• /etc/xdg/autostart/
• /usr/share/autostart/
• ~/.config/autostart/
• ~/.kde/Autostart/

"Hooking"

User application could be started from the existing scrip. One script is the > /etc/kde4/kdm/Xsetup:

Both KDM and GDM have startup scripts that are executed when X is initiated. For GDM, these are in /etc/gdm/ , while for KDM this is done at /etc/kde4/kdm/Xsetup. In either case, you can paste in an xrandr command line string into one of these scripts...

Earlier > Topic: Capturing the images of the ksplash & kdm & ksplash again. It is using the Xsetup hook to capture the boot screens.


Periodically running things.

Cron

> CronHowto

With the KDE gui:
> Task Scheduler

System Task Scheduler:

KRunner: Alt + F2 and kdesudo kcmshell4 kcm_cron

Earlier > Topic: KDE Control Module


Anacron

> Anacron wiki

man anacron:

NAME
anacron - runs commands periodically

SYNOPSIS
anacron [-s] [-f] [-n] [-d] [-q] [-t anacrontab] [-S spooldir] [job] ...
anacron [-S spooldir] -u [-t anacrontab] [job] ...
anacron [-V|-h]
anacron -T [-t anacrontab]

DESCRIPTION
Anacron can be used to execute commands periodically, with a frequency specified in days. Unlike
cron( 8 ), it does not assume that the machine is running continuously. Hence, it can be used on
machines that aren't running 24 hours a day, to control daily, weekly, and monthly jobs that are
usually controlled by cron.

When executed, Anacron reads a list of jobs from a configuration file, normally /etc/anacrontab
(see anacrontab(5)). This file contains the list of jobs that Anacron controls. Each job entry
specifies a period in days, a delay in minutes, a unique job identifier, and a shell command...

Using anacron:
1) Simply put executable script file in the /etc/cron.daily, /etc/cron.weekly or /etc/cron.monthly.
2) Touch the script file:

sudo touch /etc/cron.daily/scriptfile

(cron.daily if it is a daily job)

Testing anacron:

sudo anacron -f -d

man anacron:

-f Force execution of the jobs, ignoring the timestamps.
-d Don’t fork to the background. In this mode, Anacron will output
informational messages to standard error, as well as to syslog.
The output of jobs is mailed as usual.

Anacron messages in the log:

grep anacron /var/log/syslog

Anacron keeps timestamps in the /var/spool/anacron/. If you remove cron.daily, cron.weekly or cron.monthly files from there, anacron will execute daily, weekly or monthly scripts at the next startup.

[Rog132]

Re: FAQ: Autostart / Autorun, Periodic run

Examples


With the Upstart

As default the Upstart is having the root /1/ rights.

Making upstart job to
- make a directory.
- run an application (showfsck /2/) that needs the root rights.
- directing the application output to the file.


Making /etc/init/fsck-list.conf:

description "showfsck output to file"


start on started kdm


script

mkdir -p /tmp/fsck-output/
echo "Upstarting the showfsc" > /tmp/fsck-output/showfsck.txt
showfsck >> /tmp/fsck-output/showfsck.txt

end script

After the boot the /tmp/fsck-output/showfsck.txt has:

Upstarting the showfsc
14/34 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/disk/by-uuid/81cbc603-629b-415a-a21d-0f9b152e2b2a
***************************
* 4 * /24 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sdc2
***************************
17/32 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sdc5
19/33 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sdc6
25/36 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sdd3
27/37 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sdd4

With the "Hooking"

Making a bash script, /usr/local/bin/fsck-list.sh:

#!/bin/bash

mkdir -p /tmp/fsck-output/
echo "Hooked" > /tmp/fsck-output/showfsck.txt
showfsck >> /tmp/fsck-output/showfsck.txt

Adding the script call to the /etc/kde4/kdm/Xsetup:

#! /bin/sh
# Xsetup - run as root before the login dialog appears

#xconsole -geometry 480x130-0-0 -notify -verbose -fn fixed -exitOnFail -file /dev/xconsole &

# Call the /usr/local/bin/fsck-list.sh
/usr/local/bin/fsck-list.sh &

/sbin/initctl -q emit login-session-start DISPLAY_MANAGER=kdm

After the boot the /tmp/fsck-output/showfsck.txt has:

Hooked
11/34 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/disk/by-uuid/81cbc603-629b-415a-a21d-0f9b152e2b2a
***************************
***************************
* fsck at next mount for /dev/sda2
***************************
***************************
14/32 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sda5
16/33 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sda6
22/36 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sdb3
24/37 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sdb4

User's Autostart

System Settings > Startup and Shutdown

If you don't mind to type the password you could use the kdesudo /3/.

Making a script file /usr/local/bin/fsck-list.sh:

#!/bin/bash

mkdir -p /tmp/fsck-output/
echo "Kdesudoing the showfsck" > /tmp/fsck-output/showfsck.txt
kdesudo bash -c "showfsck >> /tmp/fsck-output/showfsck.txt"

and adding it to the KDE startup list.

[img width=400 height=217]http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/2535/addautostartscript.jpg[/img]

The KDE desktop is now asking the password to execute the "showfsck >> /tmp/fsck-output/showfsck.txt".

[img width=400 height=210]http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/9598/passwordquery.jpg[/img]

After this the /tmp/fsck-output/showfsck.txt has:

Kdesudoing the showfsck
10/34 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/disk/by-uuid/81cbc603-629b-415a-a21d-0f9b152e2b2a
24/24 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sda2
13/32 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sda5
15/33 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sda6
21/36 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sdb3
23/37 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sdb4

With the sudeoers

Changing the rights with the sudoers /4/ but using the sudoers.d /5/.

Adding an exeption:

sudo visudo -f /etc/sudoers.d/01_exception

Inserting:

rog ALL= NOPASSWD:/usr/sbin/showfsck

Save and exit.

Making a script file /usr/local/bin/fsck-list.sh:

#!/bin/bash

mkdir -p /tmp/fsck-output/
echo "Rights to Rog" > /tmp/fsck-output/showfsck.txt
sudo /usr/sbin/showfsck >> /tmp/fsck-output/showfsck.txt

and adding it to the KDE startup list.

[img width=400 height=232]http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/3148/autostartsriptsudo.jpg[/img]

After the reboot the /tmp/fsck-output/showfsck.txt has:

Rights to Rog
***************************
* 4 * /34 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/disk/by-uuid/81cbc603-629b-415a-a21d-0f9b152e2b2a
***************************
18/24 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sda2
7/32 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sda5
9/33 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sda6
15/36 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sdb3
17/37 mount(s) until fsck for /dev/sdb4

/1/ > Rootsudo

/2/ Package: showfsck, man showfsck:
showfsck - Show the number of reboots until a forced fsck

With the Natty the showfsck needs the root /1/ rights:

:~$ showfsck
Unable to access information for /dev/disk/by-uuid/81cbc603-629b-415a-a21d-0f9b152e2b2a
Unable to access information for /dev/sdc2
Unable to access information for /dev/sdc5
Unable to access information for /dev/sdc6
Unable to access information for /dev/sdd2
Unable to access information for /dev/sdd3
Unable to access information for /dev/sdd4

/3/ > Redirect output as sudo

/4/ > Sudoers

/5/ > /etc/sudoers.d/ (and all those d directories)