Is /etc/rc.local obsolete? [Solved]

[G-Known]

I"ve tried running scripts inside that file but it doesn't work, so then I moved my script file to /etc/init.d and after a restart, the script worked. Does that mean rc.local is obsolete?

[GarryRicketson]

No it is not "obsolete" , it has it's place, and it'uses ,..

Does that mean rc.local is obsolete?

http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/49626/purpose-and-typical-usage-of-etc-rc-local
Some people, seem to feel it is obsolete. But that would depend on what version of Debian you are using, what kind of script it is, and if the script is "called" correctly.
so many other details, none of which you have given.
Why didn't you just copy and paste the question into a search engine, Like "startpage.com" ?
Copy and paste , :

Is /etc/rc.local obsolete?

into https://startpage.com/do/metasearch.pl
-----------------------
I guess the script you wrote, is the kind of script that needs to be run from init.d
Try

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 man bash

Is DOS obsolete ? many people would say yes, I would say no, cause I still use it,
Same applies to /etc/rc.local , it has it's uses, but if the person does not know how to use it, then it is "obsolete".

[WingedFrog]

I"ve tried running scripts inside that file but it doesn't work, so then I moved my script file to /etc/init.d and after a restart, the script worked. Does that mean rc.local is obsolete?

No, not obsolete. It is provided for the use of the system administrator and compatibility reasons. Posts that insist it should never be used are just plain wrong.

I run hdparm -B 254 /dev/sdX from /etc/rc.local to kill head parking on my HGST drives at startup. I also kill display power management and launch the fancontrol script from /etc/rc.local.

As would be expected, rc.local has to be enabled in systemd. I am on Stretch which I installed with the testing network installer. As far as I can recall, enabled was the default. The Stretch systemd rc.local settings are a little different than those in Arch, (as referenced by those earlier links), so it may not be wise to rely on directly copying Arch stuff in this case.

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#  This file is part of systemd.
#
#  systemd is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
#  under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
#  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or
#  (at your option) any later version.

# This unit gets pulled automatically into multi-user.target by
# systemd-rc-local-generator if /etc/rc.local is executable.
[Unit]
Description=/etc/rc.local Compatibility
ConditionFileIsExecutable=/etc/rc.local
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/etc/rc.local start
TimeoutSec=0
RemainAfterExit=yes


Lastly, anything that isn't a simple, quick command has to be forked in rc.local. Anything that returns an error will immediately terminate rc.local and subsequent entries will not be executed.

[G-Known]

I'm trying to run this script:

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#!/bin/bash
 while true
    do
        export DISPLAY=:0.0
        battery_level=`acpi -b | grep -P -o '[0-9]+(?=%)'`
        if on_ac_power; then
            if [ $battery_level -ge 80 ]; then
                notify-send "Battery charging above 80%. Please unplug your AC adapter!" "Charging: ${battery_level}% "
                sleep 20
                if on_ac_power; then
                    gnome-screensaver-command -l   ## lock the screen if you don't unplug AC adapter after 20 seconds
                fi
             fi
        else
             if [ $battery_level -le 35 ]; then
                notify-send "Battery is lower 35%. Need to charging! Please plug your AC adapter." "Charging: ${battery_level}%"
                sleep 20
                if ! on_ac_power; then
                    gnome-screensaver-command -l   ## lock the screen if you don't plug AC adapter after 20 seconds
                fi
             fi
        fi

        sleep 300 # 300 seconds or 5 minutes
done


I've inputted it into init.d directory but it doesn't seem to run. I've made it executable and used the update-rc.d 'script.sh' default command.

I've used the rc.local file before and I know its basic functions. But lately, even if I put an input command like: nmcli radio wifi off, the command won't get executed. I don't know how to diagnose this error but generally the command is prior 'exit 0'. My current file reads:

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#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.
nmcli radio wifi off
ethtool -s eth0 wol d
exit 0


[WingedFrog]

First, make sure rc.local is running.

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$ systemctl list-units | grep rc-local
rc-local.service                                              loaded active running   /etc/rc.local Compatibility


Then try this.

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# By default this script does nothing.
nmcli radio wifi off &
ethtool -s eth0 wol d &
exit 0

I did not look at the bash script you posted. I am far from a bash expert, and I don't have the time to try and dig through it. I also did not verify the correctness of your nmcli and ethtool usage.

[kiyop]

Are you sure that there is "done" after the last "fi" in the script?
If there is not, the script has a BUG, and so it is not executed because of error.
Refer, for example, http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guid ... 09_02.html
If there is, read below.

How do you confirm that the script is not executed?
Execute

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ps auwwx

and find the script or "sleep 300".

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 while true
    do
(snip by kiyop)
        if on_ac_power; then
            if [ $battery_level -ge 80 ]; then
(snip by kiyop)
           fi
        fi

        sleep 300 # 300 seconds or 5 minutes


Are you sure that in your debian, command "on_ac_power" exist?

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on_ac_power

Are you sure that in your debian, the variable $battery_level has some value?

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echo $battery_level

Sometimes, the current (working) directory and the current $PATH variable and the current user (root or the ordinary user) cause problems.

[G-Known]

I know that the script works because if I run it manually, it'll work. I'll double check the script soundness.

pgrep -fl will return to me the script that it's running.

UPDATE: The done was placed at the end after the 'sleep' statement. I believed I didn't paste that part in.

[G-Known]

First, make sure rc.local is running.

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$ systemctl list-units | grep rc-local
rc-local.service                                              loaded active running   /etc/rc.local Compatibility


The command returns:

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rc-local.service                                                                         loaded active     exited          /etc/rc.local Compatibility


Which I assume that it's loaded and exits after it's done executing.

[kiyop]

UPDATE: The done was placed at the end after the 'sleep' statement. I believed I didn't paste that part in.

G-Known added

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done


to the above post of him: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=124740&p=593321#p593167
after I posted the above.

To G-Known,

pgrep -fl will return to me the script that it's running.

I know that the script works because if I run it manually, it'll work. I'll double check the script soundness.

I see. I cannot help you. Good luck and good-bye.

[G-Known]

I did it. Unfortunately I'll have to remove the script from init.d directory; it seems root is unable to execute whilst successfully in userspace.

[vinyanalista]

As I googled "debian 9 /etc/rc.local" and it returned me this forum page, I would like to share information about /etc/rc.local on Debian 9.0 Stretch, just in case anyone needs. This is not official information, but what happened to me and how I solved it.

I needed to run a script at my server startup. I installed Debian 9.0 Stretch RC 4 yesterday using the netinst CD image available here: https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

When I issued:

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# nano /etc/rc.local

I noticed nano was creating a new file. In other words, /etc/rc.local is not created by default on Debian 9.0 Stretch.

I copied the template from another Debian server I have, running Debian 8.0 Jessie:

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#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.

exit 0

And I added a call to the script before exit 0. Then, I rebooted the server, the script was not executed. I thought /etc/rc.local was not used on Debian 9.0 anymore, so I googled and came to this page.

Then, reading the post and the replies, I followed their directions:

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# systemctl list-units | grep rc-local <-- (empty output)
# systemctl start rc-local
# systemctl status rc-local
● rc-local.service - /etc/rc.local Compatibility
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/rc-local.service; static; vendor preset: enabled)
  Drop-In: /lib/systemd/system/rc-local.service.d
           └─debian.conf
   Active: inactive (dead)
Condition: start condition failed at Wed 2017-06-07 09:54:07 -03; 3s ago
           └─ ConditionFileIsExecutable=/etc/rc.local was not met

Besides manually creating /etc/rc.local, I should have made it executable, so I did it and rebooted the server:

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# chmod +x /etc/rc.local
# reboot

That time, the script was called during startup.

[mfamatute]

Exists but is inactive, here explain how to activate it
https://www.linuxbabe.com/linux-server/ ... th-systemd