Run a script at startup as a user

Question

Is there a way to run a script on startup as a user on Debian 7? My script is

screen -dmS name ./script.sh

So essentially I want to run a script on startup that would make a screen window and run a script in it

Solution

You can faff about with an elaborate sudo command in /etc/rc.local, but the best way is to use the user's cron table. cron has some nifty scheduling keywords including @reboot which will run the defined script or command when the system is rebooted.

So, as that user, run crontab -e, and add this line to the file:

@reboot screen -dmS ScreenName /path/to/your/script.sh

Comments

[Tundral]

No it's a server actually

[Rob]

Then what do you mean by screen window? That was suggesting to me a window environment. Did you mean a process that starts when the server boots up?

[Tundral]

Is session the right term then. I want it to make a screen session which I can attach to later if I need to. All this will be done through SSH

[Rob]

Ok then add it to you .profile in your home it gets sourced every time you open a terminal be it on the box or through ssh.