How to run an interactive console program like htop directly on tty? - linux

i did make an interesting discovery on my raspberry pi. if I run the following as root:
htop > /dev/tty0
Then the output of htop will be printed directly on screen (hdmi connection)
I would like to run htop as service, but when I do that in a systemd script it says
systemd error opening terminal unknown
How to solve that?
I tried also
cat /dev/null | htop > /dev/tty
Same result...

Set
[Service]
StandardOutput=tty
in the .service file. See systemd.exec(5) for details.

Related

screen logging not working over ssh terminal

I want to run "screen" on a debian linode server, starting up over a ssh terminal window. I'd like a shell script to start and detach a screen, so that a process can continue when I log off. I'd also like the logging file screenlog.0 to be produced, so that there's a record if the process crashes.
But there's a problem in getting the log file to write. Locally, on a mac terminal window,
% screen -dm -L sh -c 'echo hello'
works fine, "hello" gets written to screenlog.0. But the same command issued in a ssh window to the server executes, but nothing gets written.
However, if in that window I go into screen,
% screen -L
and then do some stuff, the activity is written to screenlog.0 (on the server).
What am I missing?
It turns out that the screen() command can have problems. The above command sends no output to screenlog.0 under 'Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)' , while 'Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS' writes the odd message, "error: could not start server! try running as root!", to screenlog.0, even when running as root. 'Linux Mint 18.1' and MacOSX run correctly.
I was advised to use the venerable unix command "nohup" to solve my problem of detaching a process and logging its output, even when you close the ssh connection. Ordinarily, when you close a terminal window, the signal SIGHUP is sent to any processes that were started there. But
% nohup myprog > logfile.txt &
works perfectly. Old way, good way.

How to start vlc-nox via ssh in a Linux server running in text mode?

Background
I have a Linux server running in text mode with no X installed. I intend to show video and image using directfb to the monitor (actually a TV). I have installed vlc-nox and it runs as expected if it is invoked in default console (physical keyboard).
Issue
When running it via SSH, no video is displayed, but audio is okay. The error is as below:
directfb vout display error: Cannot create primary surface
fb vout display error: cannot get terminal mode (Inappropriate ioctl for device)
core video output error: video output creation failed
core decoder error: failed to create video output
fbi's way
I think fbi also facing the same issue, as it would raise an error like below:
ioctl VT_GETSTATE: Inappropriate ioctl for device (not a linux console?)
But, fbi provides a solution for this case: -T -vt <arg> start on virtual console <arg>
So, sudo fbi -T 1 /path/to/image/file would display image as expected.
Question: What's the vlc's way?
I finally have a solution for this, so I post it here in case someone has the same question.
My understanding is that vlc needs to run under a real tty, not a pseudo tty. My solution is composed of two parts.
Part 1: Let vlc run as daemon mode.
Create a user for the daemon and assign audio and video privilege.
#useradd -c "VLC daemon" -d / -G audio,video -M -p \! -r -s /bin/false -u 75 -U vlcd
Run vlc at startup using tty1
I have tried this with unit under ubuntu.
[Unit]
Description=VLC server
After=network.target auditd.service
Conflicts=getty#tty1.service
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/vlc -I rc --rc-host 127.0.0.1:8080
ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
KillMode=process
Restart=on-failure
RestartPreventExitStatus=255
User=vlcd
Type=simple
#StandardError=tty
StandardOutput=tty
StandardInput=tty
RemainAfterExit=yes
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Alias=vlc.service
Please take notic of the Conflicts, ExecStart, StandardInput, and StandardOutput parts.
In Conflicts, it will bypass the default getty service, otherwise it should be disable manually by #systemctrl disable getty#tty1.
In ExecStart, do not use the -d switch, which meaning that it would keep running and occupying VT 1, which is activated by Alt-F1. -rc enables the remote connect interface.
In StandardInput/Output, specify the tty as input and output device.
Part 2: Remote talk with the daemon, to let it play the file.
As --rc-host specify a local port, we need to ssh to the server first. Then, use telnet to interact (add, play, pause) with vlc.
telnet 127.0.0.1 8080
add /path/to/video/file

How to run last and print my script output during boot with systemd?

I’m trying to configure my host during deployment process and to give an output to the screen of what my configuration script is doing.
In RHEL6 it was easy i was echoing what I want to screen or used dialog to display the output, and only when my script was done i got the login prompt.
( I used rc3.d or rc5.d folder with script name S99.myscript.sh)
In RHEL7 i can’t mimic this process.
rc.local does not display my output during booting and also its not guaranteed it will run last.
I guess I need to create a systemd service file that will run my script.
But how do I output the result to the screen while booting?
And how do I make sure I will not get the log-in prompt before my script ends?
below service example works like a charm :)
[Unit]
Description=ldt_bootscript1.service
After=network.target
Before=getty#tty1.service
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c "/bin/bash /tmp/ldt_scripts/postinstall/rc.firstboot.qas | /usr/bin/dialog --clear --backtitle \"Linux Deployment\" --title \"tests\" --progressbox 20 70 > /dev/console 2>&1"
ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/echo -e \033%G
ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
RemainAfterExit=no
WorkingDirectory=/
Environment=TERM=xterm
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sending message to printk buffer from user space -- not working

Actually i want my driver messages to reach my terminal for debugging purpose. So i just try to check by following below link.
I refred following link :--
http://elinux.org/Debugging_by_printing
I am using a ubuntu in side vmplayer virtual machine. Ubuntu is running in terminal mode inside virtual machine.
I am trying to send some message to kernel printk buffer, buts echo command fails.
klog demon is also running i confirmed with following command .
ps aux | grep klogd
Cat command on proc printk entry :---
# cat /proc/sys/kernel/printk
4 4 1 7
run echo command :---
#sudo echo "<1>Writing critical printk messages from userspace" >/dev/kmsg
But i am not able to get the message on the terminal. I am getting following error when runs above command :--
-bash: /dev/kmsg: Permission denied
Please suggest how to print on console ?
my actual requirement is to ... send messages of printk() in my driver ... directly to my console. I am just testing here from my console that messages of low priority reaches console or not .
how this post is right then .. ?
linux kprint messages on console
Please suggest.
The error is because the shell is the thing trying to write to /dev/kmsg (via the redirect), and it is not being run with sudo. Also, by default echo is usually a shell builtin, not a binary that can executed in another process, though that's kind of irrelevant here. The right way to do this is
echo "blah" | sudo tee /dev/kmsg
tee is a command that copies stdin to a file and stdout. It's called tee because it's like a T-shaped pipe in a pipeline.

How to run a shell script at startup

On an Amazon S3 Linux instance, I have two scripts called start_my_app and stop_my_app which start and stop forever (which in turn runs my Node.js application). I use these scripts to manually start and stop my Node.js application. So far so good.
My problem: I also want to set it up such that start_my_app is run whenever the system boots up. I know that I need to add a file inside init.d and I know how to symlink it to the proper directory within rc.d, but I can't figure out what actually needs to go inside the file that I place in init.d. I'm thinking it should be just one line, like, start_my_app, but that hasn't been working for me.
First create your startup script # /home/user/startup.sh, and make it executable
chmod +x /home/user/startup.sh
Then set a crontab for it:
$ crontab -e
#reboot /home/user/startup.sh
Now your your startup.sh script will run at every start.
The file you put in /etc/init.d/ have to be set to executable with:
chmod +x /etc/init.d/start_my_app
As pointed out by #meetamit, if it still does not run you might have to create a symbolic link to the file in /etc/rc.d/
ln -s /etc/init.d/start_my_app /etc/rc.d/
Please note that on the latest versions of Debian, this will not work as your script will have to be LSB compliant (provide at least the following actions: start, stop, restart, force-reload, and status):
https://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts
As a note, you should always use the absolute path to files in your scripts instead of the relative one, it may solve unexpected issues:
/var/myscripts/start_my_app
Finally, make sure that you included the shebang on top of the file:
#!/bin/sh
A simple approach is to add a line in /etc/rc.local :
/PATH/TO/MY_APP &
or if you want to run the command as a special user :
su - USER_FOOBAR -c /PATH/TO/MY_APP &
(the trailing ampersand backgrounds the process and allows the rc.local to continue executing)
If you want a full init script, debian distro have a template file, so :
cp /etc/init.d/skeleton /etc/init.d/your_app
and adapt it a bit.
This is the way I do it on Red Hat Linux systems.
Put your script in /etc/init.d, owned by root and executable. At the top of the script, you can give a directive for chkconfig. Example, the following script is used to start a Java application as user oracle.
The name of the script is /etc/init.d/apex
#!/bin/bash
# chkconfig: 345 99 10
# Description: auto start apex listener
#
case "$1" in
'start')
su - oracle -c "cd /opt/apex ; java -jar apex.war > logs/apex.log 2>logs/apex_error.log &";;
'stop')
echo "put something to shutdown or kill the process here";;
esac
This says that the script must run at levels 3, 4, and 5, and the priority for start/stop is 99 and 10.
Then, as user root you can use chkconfig to enable or disable the script at startup:
chkconfig --list apex
chkconfig --add apex
And you can use service start/stop apex.
Enter cron using sudo:
sudo crontab -e
Add a command to run upon start up, in this case a script:
#reboot sh /home/user/test.sh
Save:
Press ESC then :x to save and exit, or hit ESC then ZZ (that's shift+zz)
Test Test Test:
Run your test script without cron to make sure it actually works.
Make sure you saved your command in cron, use sudo crontab -e
Reboot the server to confirm it all works sudo #reboot
Just have a line added to your crontab..
Make sure the file is executable:
chmod +x /path_to_you_file/your_file
To edit crontab file:
crontab -e
Line you have to add:
#reboot /path_to_you_file/your_file
That simple!
Another option is to have an #reboot command in your crontab.
Not every version of cron supports this, but if your instance is based on the Amazon Linux AMI then it will work.
Edit the rc.local file using nano or gedit editor and add your scripts in it. File path could be /etc/rc.local or /etc/rc.d/rc.local.
sudo nano /etc/rc.local
This is the edit:
#!/bin/sh
/path-to-your-script/your-scipt-name.sh
once done press ctrl+o to update, pressEnter then ctrl+x.
Make the file executable.
sudo chmod 755 /etc/rc.local
Then initiate the rc-local service to run script during boot.
sudo systemctl start rc-local
You can do it :
chmod +x PATH_TO_YOUR_SCRIPT/start_my_app
then use this command
update-rc.d start_my_app defaults 100
Please see this page on Cyberciti.
Many answers on starting something at boot, but often you want to start it just a little later, because your script depends on e.g. networking. Use at to just add this delay, e.g.:
at now + 1 min -f /path/yourscript
You may add this in /etc/rc.local, but also in cron like:
# crontab -e
#reboot at now + 1 min -f /path/yourscript
Isn't it fun to combine cron and at? Info is in the man page man at.
As for the comments that #reboot may not be widely supported, just try it. I found out that /etc/rc.local has become obsolete on distros that support systemd, such as ubuntu and raspbian.
The absolute easiest method if all you want to run is a simple script, (or anything) is if you have a gui to use system > preferences then startup apps.
just browse to the script you want and there you go. (make script executable)
This simple solution worked for me on an Amazon Linux instance running CentOS.
Edit your /etc/rc.d/rc.local file and put the command there. It is mentioned in this file that it will be executed after all other init scripts. So be careful in that regards. This is how the file looks for me currently.. Last line is the name of my script.
Create your own /init executable
This is not what you want, but it is fun!
Just pick an arbitrary executable file, even a shell script, and boot the kernel with the command line parameter:
init=/path/to/myinit
Towards the end of boot, the Linux kernel runs the first userspace executable at the given path.
Several projects provide popular init executables used by major distros, e.g. systemd, and in most distros init will fork a bunch of processes used in normal system operation.
But we can hijack /init it to run our own minimal scripts to better understand our system.
Here is a minimal reproducible setup: https://github.com/cirosantilli/linux-kernel-module-cheat/tree/f96d4d55c9caa7c0862991025e1291c48c33e3d9/README.md#custom-init
I refered to this blog, always sound a good choice
https://blog.xyzio.com/2016/06/14/setting-up-a-golang-website-to-autorun-on-ubuntu-using-systemd/
vim /lib/systemd/system/gosite.service
Description=A simple go website
ConditionPathExists=/home/user/bin/gosite
[Service]
Restart=always
RestartSec=3
ExecStart=/home/user/bin/gosite
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
systemctl enable gosite.service
multi ways to finish it:
crontab
rc.local
init.d
systemd
For Debian 9 see https://askubuntu.com/questions/228304/how-do-i-run-a-script-at-start-up. It is helped me. Short version for Debian 9:
add commands (as root) to /etc/rc.local
/path_to_file/filename.sh || exit 1 # Added by me
exit 0
Probably, /path_to_file/filename.sh should be executable (I think so).
In Lubuntu I had to deal with the opposite situation. Skype start running after booting and I found in ~/.config/autostart/ the file skypeforlinux.desktop. The content of the file is as follows:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Skype for Linux
Comment=Skype Internet Telephony
Exec=/usr/bin/skypeforlinux
Icon=skypeforlinux
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupNotify=false
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
Deleting this file helped me.
Here is a simpler method!
First: write a shell script and save it a .sh
here is an example
#!/bin/bash
Icoff='/home/akbar/keyboardONOFF/icon/Dt6hQ.png'
id=13
fconfig=".keyboard"
echo "disabled" > $fconfig
xinput float $id
notify-send -i $Icoff "Internal Keyboard disabled";
this script will disable the internal keyboard at startup.
Second: Open the application " Startup Application Preferences"
enter image description here
enter image description here
Third: click Add.
fourth: in the NAME section give a name.
fifth: In the command section browse to your .sh .
sixth: edit your command section to:
bash <space> path/to/file/<filename>.sh <space> --start
seventh: click Add. Thats it! Finished!
Now confirm by rebooting your pc.
cheers!
Add your script to /etc/init.d/ directory
Update your rc run-levels:
$ update-rc.d myScript.sh defaults NN where NN is the order in which it should be executed. 99 for example will mean it would be run after 98 and before 100.
Painless, easiest and the most universal method is simply
executing it with ~.bash_profile or ~.profile (if you don't have bash_profile file).
Just add the execution command at the bottom of that file and it will be executed when system started.
I have this one at the bottom an example;
~\Desktop\sound_fixer.sh
Working with Python 3 microservices or shell; using Ubuntu Server 18.04 (Bionic Beaver) or Ubuntu 19.10 (Eoan Ermine) or Ubuntu 18.10 (Cosmic Cuttlefish) I always do like these steps, and it worked always too:
Creating a microservice called p example "brain_microservice1.service" in my case:
$ nano /lib/systemd/system/brain_microservice1.service
Inside this new service that you are in:
[Unit]
Description=brain_microservice_1
After=multi-user.target
[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3.7 /root/scriptsPython/RUN_SERVICES/microservices /microservice_1.py -k start -DFOREGROUND
ExecStop=/usr/bin/python3.7 /root/scriptsPython/RUN_SERVICES/microservices/microservice_1.py -k graceful-stop
ExecReload=/usr/bin/python3.7 /root/scriptsPython/RUN_SERVICES/microservices/microservice_1.py -k graceful
PrivateTmp=true
LimitNOFILE=infinity
KillMode=mixed
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5s
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Give the permissions:
$ chmod -X /lib/systemd/system/brain_microservice*
$ chmod -R 775 /lib/systemd/system/brain_microservice*
Give the execution permission then:
$ systemctl daemon-reload
Enable then, this will make then always start on startup
$ systemctl enable brain_microservice1.service
Then you can test it;
$ sudo reboot now
Finish = SUCCESS!!
This can be done with the same body script to run shell, react ... database startup script ... any kind os code ... hope this help u...
...
For some people, this will work:
You could simply add the following command into System → Preferences → Startup Applications:
bash /full/path/to/your/script.sh

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