Is there an easy way to create a FreeBSD rc script?

Question

I have a FreeBSD jail in which I run a server using the command:

/usr/sbin/daemon /path/to/script.py

At the moment I have to run this command every time I restart the machine and the jail starts. I'd like to have this command started from /etc/rc. Is there an easy way to create a FreeBSD rc script for a daemon command?

---

UPDATE: I read through this BSD documentation about rc scripts, and from that I created the following script in /etc/rc.d/pytivo:

#!/bin/sh

. /etc/rc.subr

name=pytivo
rcvar=pytivo_enable
procname="/usr/local/pytivo/pyTivo.py"

command="/usr/sbin/daemon -u jnet $procname"

load_rc_config $name
run_rc_command "$1"

This works to start the python script I am wanting as a daemon when the jail starts... (given pytivo_enable="YES" is in /etc/rc.conf) but the rc script doesn't know if the daemon is running (it thinks it isn't when it is) and it gives a warning when I try to start it:

[root@meryl /home/jnet]# /etc/rc.d/pytivo start
[: /usr/sbin/daemon: unexpected operator
Starting pytivo.
[root@meryl /home/jnet]# 

So it's close, and it works, but I feel like I should be able to get better functionality than this.

Solution

command should not contain multiple words. This is the cause of the [ error you see. You should set any flags separately.

Also, you should use pytivo_user to set the running uid, and not daemon -u. See the rc.subr(8) man page for all these magic variables.

Also, you should let the rc subsystem know that pytivo is a Python script so that it can find the process when it checks to see if it's running.

Finally, you should use the idiomatic set_rcvar for rcvar.

Something like this (I'm not sure this is the right Python path):

#!/bin/sh

# REQUIRE: LOGIN

. /etc/rc.subr

name=pytivo
rcvar=`set_rcvar`
command=/usr/local/pytivo/pyTivo.py
command_interpreter=/usr/local/bin/python
pytivo_user=jnet
start_cmd="/usr/sbin/daemon -u $pytivo_user $command"

load_rc_config $name
run_rc_command "$1"

Comments

[Admin]

You need to put this script somewhere(Can't remember now) and put a line XX_enable="YES" in /etc/rc.conf to make it auto start. Start by finding existing scripts

[Admin]

I'm looking for an easy way to create the script... Is there a good script I can copy and reuse?

[Hugo]

I was hopeful this would help, but it doesn't. I still get : /usr/sbin/daemon: unexpected operator and my rc script still doesn't know if the script is actually running.

[arved]

you could try to invoke the script with -x to see which command fails

[Hugo]

The problem is that usr/local/pytivo/pyTivo.py doesn't daemonize, therefore without calling /usr/bin/daemon I will just get the command running in the forground when I run /etc/rc.d/pytivo start

[Hugo]

However this does correct the status and stop commands!

[user2578106]

Oh, the script doesn't daemonize? I think the easiest fix is to set start_cmd before calling load_rc_config: start_cmd="/usr/sbin/daemon -u $pytivo_user $command"

[Dave Martorana]

This had the magic I needed to get my script running. Thanks!