How do I run GAE as a background-service - linux

Question

I found a init.d script template -- filled in the blanks and tried to invoke GAE using something like:
start-stop-daemon -S --background python
/opt/google_appengine/dev_appserver.py --host=0.0.0.0
--admin_host=0.0.0.0 --php_executable_path=/usr/bin/php-cgi /var/www
This doesn't work...but if I run from the command line works fine but hangs the input...
How do I invoke this command at startup using init.d and change to the user "gae" -- similar to Apache runs as www-data

Answer 1

I also (briefly) tried to use start-stop-daemon to control Google App Engine (without any luck), so I ended up using /etc/rc.local to launch the daemon.
Add the following to /etc/rc.local (before any exit command):
sudo -i -u gae python /opt/google_appengine/dev_appserver.py --host=0.0.0.0 \
--storage_path /var/cache/appengine/gae \
--admin_host=0.0.0.0 --php_executable_path=/usr/bin/php-cgi /var/www > /dev/null 2> /dev/null &
Note, I included a storage_path in the launch options. Make sure you do the following:
sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/appengine/gae
sudo chown gae: /var/cache/appengine/gae
To restart the process (after an update), I just kill python and manually execute rc.local:
sudo killall -9 python
sudo /etc/rc.local

Answer 2

I have finally figured out how and why the start-stop-daemon was not working...it all boiled down to some simple syntactical errors and a (still?) misunderstanding on my behalf:
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/154692/start-stop-daemon-wont-start-my-python-script-as-service
In brief, when I use this init.d script and register it accordingly, GAE starts and stops accordingly:
#!/bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: Google App Engine daemon management
# Required-Start:
# Required-Stop:
# Default-Start:
# Default-Stop:
# Short-Description: Google App Engine initscript
# Description: Start/stop appengine web server
### END INIT INFO
# Author: Alex Barylski <alex.barylski#gmail.com>
. /lib/lsb/init-functions
#
# Initialize variables
#
name=appengine
desc="Google App Engine"
bind=0.0.0.0
docroot=/var/www
phpexec=/usr/bin/php-cgi
pidfile=/var/run/$name.pid
args="--host=$bind --admin_host=$bind --php_executable_path=$phpexec"
prog='/usr/bin/python /opt/google_appengine/dev_appserver.py'
#
# TODO: Figure out how to switch user (ie: --chuid www-data)
#
case "${1}" in
start)
echo "Starting...$desc"
start-stop-daemon --start --make-pidfile --background --oknodo \
--pidfile $pidfile \
--name $name \
--exec $prog \
-- $args $docroot
;;
stop)
echo "Stopping...$desc"
start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --retry=0/30/KILL/5 --exec $prog
;;
restart)
${0} stop
sleep 1
${0} start
;;
*)
echo "Usage: ${0} {start|stop|restart}"
exit 1
;;
esac
exit 0
I cannot figure out how to start the service as www-data and I am sure I could make this script more robust but for development purposes it is sufficient and runs as a daemon.
Hope this helps someone in the future,
Alex