Executing a script on startup using BeagleBone Black

Question

I have an a.out which I want to run when my BeagleBone boots up. It is actually a socket server which I want to start as soon as the BeagleBone powers up. I tried to put this in /etc/init.d, but it didn't help. I wrote a shell script to run this executable but even that did not help.

What can I do to make a script run as soon as it boots up?

Answer 1

It took me quite some time to figure this out, but with lots of research, I finally found what I was looking for.

1. Compile the required code.

2. Create a bash script that will launch the code at boot/ startup

   cd /usr/bin/
   

   Type nano scriptname.sh

   #!/bin/bash
   /home/root/name_of_compiled_code
   

   Save and grant execute permission

   chmod u+x /usr/bin/scriptname.sh
   

3. Create the service

   nano /lib/systemd/scriptname.service
   

4. Edit the above file as necessary to invoke the different functionalities like network. Enable these only if the code needs that particular service. Disable unwanted ones to decrease boot time.

   [Unit]
   Description=description of code
   After=syslog.target network.target
   [Service]
   Type=simple
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/scriptname.sh
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target
   

5. Create a symbolic link to let the device know the location of the service.

   cd /etc/systemd/system/
   ln /lib/systemd/scriptname.service scriptname.service
   

6. Make systemd reload the configuration file, start the service immediately (helps to see if the service is functioning properly) and enable the unit files specified in the command line.

   systemctl daemon-reload
   systemctl start scriptname.service
   systemctl enable scriptname.service
   

7. Restart BBB immediately to see if it runs as intended.

   reboot
   

(All credit goes to http://mybeagleboneblackfindings.blogspot.com/2013/10/running-script-on-beaglebone-black-boot.html)