Run Scripts on Startup

 

Step 1– Create A Unit File

Open a sample unit file using the command as shown below:

sudo nano /lib/systemd/system/sample.service

Add in the following text :

 [Unit]
 Description=My Sample Service
 After=multi-user.target

 [Service]
 Type=idle
 ExecStart=/usr/bin/python /home/pi/sample.py

 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target

You should save and exit the nano editor.

Configure systemd Run a Program On Your Raspberry Pi At Startup

This defines a new service called “Sample Service” and we are requesting that it is launched once the multi-user environment is available. The “ExecStart” parameter is used to specify the command we want to run. The “Type” is set to “idle” to ensure that the ExecStart command is run only when everything else has loaded. Note that the paths are absolute and define the complete location of Python as well as the location of our Python script.

In order to store the script’s text output in a log file you can change the ExecStart line to:

ExecStart=/usr/bin/python /home/pi/sample.py > /home/pi/sample.log 2>&1

The permission on the unit file needs to be set to 644 :

sudo chmod 644 /lib/systemd/system/sample.service

Step 2 – Configure systemd

Now the unit file has been defined we can tell systemd to start it during the boot sequence :

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable sample.service

Reboot the Pi and your custom service should run:

sudo reboot

 

 

Creating GUI applications for raspberry pi using cross compilation is a process that includes multiple stages, Like Executable Binary creation on Host Machine, transferring executable on target, and executing binary on target. 

 
Sometimes that binary has to be reloaded after modification then the entire process has to be repeated again. Some GUI applications require to be started on boot.
 
Here are the simple steps to do these things.
 
Putting Binary in a folder

mkdir ~/app && cd ~/app
scp remoteHostname@RemoteIP:/appLocationOnRemote/my_app

Launch Script

sudo nano launch_MyApp.sh

#!/bin/sh
sudo /home/pi/app/my_app

sudo chmod +x launch_MyApp.sh

Calling Launch Script on startup

sudo nano ~/.config/autostart/MyApp.desktop

Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=My_App
Exec=/bin/bash /home/pi/app/launch_MyApp.sh

Kill Script

sudo nano kill_MyApp.sh

#!/bin/sh
if pgrep -x "my_app" > /dev/null
then
pgrep -x "my_app" | sudo xargs kill
fi

sudo chmod +x kill_MyApp.sh

Synchronize and run binary 

sudo nano ~/.bashrc

export XAUTHORITY=~/.Xauthority
export DISPLAY=:0;

sudo nano sync_MyApp.sh
sudo chmod +x sync_MyApp.sh

#!/bin/sh
if pgrep -x "my_app" > /dev/null
then
pgrep -x "my_app" | sudo xargs kill
fi
scp remoteHostname@RemoteIP:/appLocationOnRemote/my_app
/home/pi/app/my_app

 

Details
Category: Raspberry Pi