No `rc.local` in 16.10, so how can I add a command to set brightness on boot?

Question

I previously solved the problem by adding a command:

echo X > /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness  

to /etc/rc.local on Ubuntu 14.04 . But there is no /etc/rc.local on Ubuntu 16.10 . I don't know how to solve it now. Is there a new script that replaces rc.local where I can enter my command?

Solution 1

The standard way to make permanent changes to access points (they are not really files) in /sys is to use sysfsutils rather than /etc/rc.local. The package is not installed by default in 16.10, so first do:

sudo apt install sysfsutils

now edit the file /etc/sysfs.conf, for example:

sudo nano /etc/sysfs.conf

and add this line to the end of it:

class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness = X

This will do the same as your echo command.

Solution 2

In case you didn't know, rc.local is disabled by default in Ubuntu 16.10, because new versions of Ubuntu use systemd. Thus make rc.local considered a service, but you can anytime turn on rc.local with service command:

sudo systemctl enable rc-local.service

Now that rc.local is enabled, you can use your old workaround, run following command to add desired brightness level to /etc/rc.local :

sudo sed -i '13i echo X > /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness  ' /etc/rc.local

Comments

[Liso]

You can actually enable rc.local again using service command

[Zanna]

@ImsJoe great! Glad you fixed it :)