debugging /etc/init.d startup scripts in Ubuntu

Question

Have custom dropr message queue pollers I'm trying to start up via /etc/init.d in ubuntu. All 3 scripts are super-simple one liners and work perfect via command line, but for some reason, only one of them actually works when the server boots up. All have 775 perms, and this works great:

sudo /etc/init.d/app-poller.sh

Here's an example script (has to run as www-data user):

[/etc/init.d]$  cat /etc/init.d/app-poller.sh 
#!/bin/sh
su - www-data -c "bash -c '/path/to/dropr-server/daemons/app-poller.php'"

I've run removed / re-entered the inittab entries several times via:

updates-rc.d -f app-poller.sh remove
updates-rc.d app-poller.sh defaults

rcconf script also says everything is starting fine. I've followed all the instructions here: http://jonathonhill.net/2009-04-23/auto-start-a-shell-script-on-ubuntu-server/ here and here: http://stringofthoughts.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/adding-removing-shell-scripts-ubuntu-810/

And I've looked for output in all the usual suspects (/var/log/messages, /var/log/daemons, etc)... still no clue.

Would very much like to at least have some insight into why this is failing. Anyone know which logfiles I can reference to see what is going wrong & why?

Two more things I've tried (without luck): 1) changed the order of each script (tried 'default [97,98, or 99] for each) 2) tried changing the scripts shell from "bash -c '/path/to/..." to absolute path of sh: "/bin/sh -c '/path/to/..." — rICh, Nov 01 '11 at 16:15

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited May 04 '18 at 07:12

8

I found adding the following near the top of my /etc/init.d/scriptname was all I needed:

debug_me=true

if [[ $debug_me == true ]]; then

  # Close STDOUT
  exec 1<&-
  # Close STDERR
  exec 2<&-

  LOG_FILE=/home/myhome/scriptname.log

  # Open STDOUT as $LOG_FILE file for read and write.
  exec 1<>$LOG_FILE

  # Redirect STDERR to STDOUT
  exec 2>&1

  # Display shell commands with expanded args
  set -x

fi

edited May 04 '18 at 07:12

joseph_morris

705
6
13

answered Jul 28 '16 at 17:54

Chris Kerlin

130
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4

You're missing a $ before the reference to debug_me on line 3 – joseph_morris May 03 '18 at 22:44

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 19 '13 at 14:39

6

Try calling the init-script while simulating the boottime environment:

env -i LANG="$LANG" PATH="$PATH" TERM="$TERM" /etc/init.d/your-daemon start

Do add some debug output to your script if you don't see any output from that command.

answered Jul 19 '13 at 14:39

Rias A. Sherzad

748
7
13

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 22 '14 at 12:47

2

Run it in a sub-shell with -x.

http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/sect_02_03.html

answered Oct 22 '14 at 12:47

Grasshopper

1,749
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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 01 '11 at 16:42

0

Try changing:

su - www-data -c "bash -c '/path/to/dropr-server/daemons/app-poller.php'"

to:

/bin/su - www-data -c "/bin/bash -c '/path/to/dropr-server/daemons/app-poller.php'"

answered Nov 01 '11 at 16:42

Mike

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Thanks Mike. Still same result -- only my script at level 97 starts. The one at 98 still doesn't... running it from sudo works just fine with a "sudo nohup /etc/init.d/second-poller.php > /dev/null &" – rICh Nov 01 '11 at 16:47
Beyond suggesting using `grep` in the `/var/log` directory to search for `dropr`, I don't know what else to say. Confirm via `ls` that the proper symlinks you expect are actually created for your `S97`, `S98`, and `S99` scripts (and the same for your `K` scripts) in `/etc/rc?.d/` directories...? – Mike Nov 01 '11 at 19:15

debugging /etc/init.d startup scripts in Ubuntu

4 Answers4