[SOLVED] Autostart not working

[James1234]

I am using the WebScrapbook extension for Firefox in Kubuntu 24.04, which requires running WebScrapbook server in the background. So I created WebScrapbook.sh to do that, and it works just fine. So far so good, right? But then I wanted to put that script into Startup and Shutdown --> Autostart of System Settings, but it doesn't work. I tried adding it as a login script, but it doesn't run. A script file is not an app, but I tried that anyways, but it doesn't run. I created a desktop file and tried running that and still it won't work. So if I can add a script to Autostart, why won't it run the script? Just remember that I can execute the script from the command line, so the problem isn't with my script. How can I make this work as expected?

[Snowhog]

What is the command you issue from the CLI?

[James1234]

What is the command you issue from the CLI?

The usual: ./Webscrapbook.sh.

[claydoh]

Try using the full path to the file, or placing it in your $PATH so you don't need to use any path or the "./" is the script marked as executable?

What installation steps did you follow, and what is the actual content of the script you are trying to run?

[James1234]

Try using the full path to the file, or placing it in your $PATH so you don't need to use any path or the "./" is the script marked as executable?

I can't set the path in Autostart. You can only link to the script.

What installation steps did you follow, and what is the actual content of the script you are trying to run?

I did what I was prompted by Kubuntu to do by going to System Settings -- Startup and Shutdown -- Autostart -- Add... button -- and a choice of "Add Application..." and "Add Login Script...", neither one of which works with this:

export PATH=$PATH:/home/James/py_envs/bin/
cd /home/James/Downloads/WebScrapbook/
wsb serve

That is what I used for Mx Linux with no problem, so are you suggesting that this isn't the way absolute paths are specified in Kubuntu?

[claydoh]

I have no idea what MX uses for creating autostart entries, but in Plasma 6, and iirc later versions of plasma 5.27 use more strict parsing rules. MX's Plasma version will be quite behind this

What are the full contents of the script file? (use code tags if you like)
What happens when you try running it in a terminal?

cd /to/wherever/the/file/is
./Webscrapbook.sh.

Looking at the wsb help page, here is what the script can look like:

#!/bin/bash
export PATH=$PATH:/home/James/py_envs/bin/
wsb --root ​​/home/James/Downloads/WebScrapbook/ serve

Breakdown:

1. #!/bin/bash <---- this is necessary
2. export PATH=$PATH:/home/James/py_envs/bin/ <----this adds the dir as a $PATH for bash to find executables (no need for the full path)
3. wsb serve --root=/home/James/Downloads/WebScrapbook/ <-- this is what you can use use instead of cd'ing Make sure this is the correct dir for the WebScapbook stuff, and not a subdirectory

I suspect cd'ing is the issue, but I am not bash guru.

Try mine above manually to make sure it is working before trying it as an autostart item

[James1234]

I have no idea what MX uses for creating autostart entries, but in Plasma 6, and iirc later versions of plasma 5.27 use more strict parsing rules. MX's Plasma version will be quite behind this

What happens when you try running it in a terminal?

It has always worked in the terminal. Was I not clear on that?

Looking at the wsb help page, here is what the script can look like:

#!/bin/bash
export PATH=$PATH:/home/James/py_envs/bin/
wsb serve --root=​​​/home/James/Downloads/WebScrapbook/

That's just a variation of my own script, a script that also works in the terminal but doesn't work in Kubuntu's Autostart.

I suspect cd'ing is the issue, but I am not bash guru

Don't worry about it, as I have already proved by my script always able to work from the command line, that this isn't a BASH issue, but a Kubuntu Autostart issue.

I still can't figure out why won't Kunbuntu Autostart run a simple perfectly working script? Is it an undocumented permissions issue?

[claydoh]

It has always worked in the terminal. Was I not clear on that?

Messaging can be useful even if it works as expected.
Plus just seeking clarity, to be safe.
You never did post the full contents of your script, nor mentioned which desktop you ran in MX, for comparison. For added, since we have no real idea of what you see exactly.
What specific software you installed, from where, and how --granted, you couldn't post links initially-- but some info to start as a baseline as to what you did.


If you have access to MX, look at the relevant .desktop file for your working script in ~/.config/autostart and compare it to the one in Kubuntu.
Different tools may have created different files there? I don't know. Never had an issue adding a script myself.
I doubt it is a permissions thing as this is all done and run at the user level, nothing would have changed unless you ran something with sudo, which doesn't seem likely. There is nothing special about Ubuntu that would be different in this regard from Debian.


Is the script file in the same place as it was when you added it in System Settings? (I just made that mistake in testing)


I added the extension to firefox, and installed PyWebScrapBook, then set up the extension.

It works for me here, with the difference in that I used pipx to install PyWebScrapBook, since I already had that set up. I don't need to export a $PATH or set up any venv since that was already configured. But that difference isn't an issue.


I created my script

#!/bin/bash
wsb --root ​​/home/claydoh/Public/WebScrapbook/ serve

I set it as executable.
I added it in System Settings as an autostart login script, rebooted, and logged out a couple of times and it is working.

Except when I goofed and moved the script out of my Downloads dir. A quick edit fixed that, though.

[James1234]

You never did post the full contents of your script

I did that yesterday, but here is it again...

export PATH=$PATH:/home/James/py_envs/bin/
cd /home/James/Downloads/WebScrapbook/
wsb serve

nor mentioned which desktop you ran in MX, for comparison

Also Plasma.

For added, since we have no real idea of what you see exactly.

I see exactly nothing. That's the problem! It simply just doesn't work. There are no error messages or anything.

What specific software you installed, from where, and how --granted, you couldn't post links initially-- but some info to start as a baseline as to what you did.

I installed Firebox and added the extension WebScrapbook. None of that is the problem, only the script not working for Autostart.

If you have access to MX, look at the relevant .desktop file for your working script in ~/.config/autostart and compare it to the one in Kubuntu.

They are exactly the same.

Different tools may have created different files there? I don't know. Never had an issue adding a script myself.
I doubt it is a permissions thing as this is all done and run at the user level, nothing would have changed unless you ran something with sudo, which doesn't seem likely. There is nothing special about Ubuntu that would be different in this regard from Debian.

Well there goes that idea.

Is the script file in the same place as it was when you added it in System Settings? (I just made that mistake in testing)

I never moved it.

It works for me here

I guess I'm just going to have to file a bug report with KDE/Plasma.

[Snowhog]

#!/bin/bash  
 wsb --root ​​/home/claydoh/Public/WebScrapbook/ serve

I set it as executable.

Look at your script vs what claydoh wrote.

I suggest you modify your script so it conforms to the syntax shown in his:

#!/bin/bash
wsb --root /home/James/Downloads/WebScrapbook/ serve

This assumes you are using the bash shell. And as claydoh pointed out, make the script executable.

[James1234]

Look at your script vs what claydoh wrote.

I suggest you modify your script so it conforms to the syntax shown in his:

#!/bin/bash
wsb --root /home/James/Downloads/WebScrapbook/ serve

This assumes you are using the bash shell. And as claydoh pointed out, make the script executable.

That is my current script, it has always been set as executable, and it has never worked with Autostart. I'm beginning to suspect there is nothing at all wrong with the script, especially since it has been tested for functionality from the command line numerous times. If the script wasn't set as executable in file properties, it would have never worked from the command line, and I'm presuming if it wasn't also set as executable in Autostart properties, then it wouldn't execute from Autostart. Maybe I shouldn't set Autostart to executable, since the default for all new scripts is for the executable checkbox to not be selected, and that doesn't make sense for a default unless "executable" has a different meaning that what I'm used to.

I have no idea what Kubuntu uses to execute it's scripts, but now that you mention it, I came across something I thought was kind of interesting. That is, when I right click on a script in Dolphin, it shows "Open With: Kate", and I thought that should be "Open With: Bash" instead. I didn't change anything because I am too afraid to change anything for something that is supposed to work out of the box, but it seems to me that is an error. Not sure how it got that way (my programmer's editor maybe?) or if that is normal, as in it is ignored outside of the GUI, but it seems it should say "Open With: Bash"?

If none of this still isn't the issue, I will escalate this issue to KDE/Plasma, unless you have any ideas on how to get feedback from Kubuntu on what is wrong, say like a way to view the boot up messages during Autostart?

[jlittle]

... it has been tested for functionality from the command line numerous times...

The "environment" being different between autostart and the command line can cause scripts to fail. For example, if wsb communicates with the DE (desktop environment) it will want the dbus session ID.
To diagnose this sort of thing, you can put logging in the script.

[James1234]

The "environment" being different between autostart and the command line can cause scripts to fail. For example, if wsb communicates with the DE (desktop environment) it will want the dbus session ID.
To diagnose this sort of thing, you can put logging in the script.

A log file is available in the /var/log directory, so I searched the startup log file for "WebScrapbook" and it said that "Executable path is not absolute", which can only happen if the OS tries to execute the script instead of trying to run the file with an external app. That external app is Bash, which I guess the command line environment provides but the autostart environment does not.

But why would this script work from the command line for both Mx Linux and Kubuntu, but it would only work with MX Linux's autostart? As you hinted, there is a difference between these two OS environments is that MX Linux uses svsVinit whereas Kubuntu uses systemd as their init system. I don't know the difference between these two init systems but it's enough to explain (to the experts I consulted) why my script would work in Mx Linux but not in Kubuntu.

In summary I was told that Kubuntu/Systemd requires a "shebang" for Bash to run the script, whereas Mx Linux/sysVinit does not. claydoh and SnowHog both had listed that "command" in their examples, but I left it off because it looked like a comment and not a command, i.e. --
#!/bin/bash

and

## Start PyWebScrapBook pointing at my local folder

both show up in Kate (the default editor for Kubuntu) as comments. I wasn't interested in needless comments so I left them off, but #!/bin/bash is not a comment, it is a command to tell the OS to use bash to run the rest of the script with. Kate editor has very misleading syntax highlighting, but at least everything(?) is working as expected.