Writing start scripts for services in Fedora linux

Howto manage your services and programs within Fedora

1. Make your shell script executable

All shell scripts in /usr/bin/ or /sbin/ can be executed anywhere within the command line

Add a softlink into /sbin or /usr/bin

$ cd /sbin

$ ln -s /app/jon/bin/rhq-server.sh jon

$ jon

1.5. Start your shell script at startup by modifying

Example:

$ sudo vi /etc/rc.d/rc.local

add:
killall -9 knetworkmanager & qdbus org.kde.kded /kded unloadModule networkmanagement && nm-applet &

2. Start your program easily via shell script

If you have a shell that takes the standard arguments : start / stop / restart

you can it into the repository /etc/init.d/.

All scripts in /etc/init.d/ can be called with

$ service my_script start

For convenience use a softlink instead of copying it into /etc/init.d:

$ cd /etc/init.d

$ ln -s /app/jon/bin/rhq-server.sh jon

$ service jon start

3. Service registry within Fedora (the startup services)

List all available services (/etc/init.d)

$ chkconfig --list

Start / stop the ssh daemon service

$ chkconfig sshd start (or stop)

Enable a service

$ chkconfig --add ssh

$ chkconfig sshd on

Disable a service

$ chkconfig sshd off

$ chkconfig sshd --del

If you you prefer a graphical interface for the service registry use

$ system-config-services

4. Making an executable 'servicable'

Create a file in /etc/init.d, here an example: shutter 
#!/bin/sh
#
# shutter This script starts and stops the shutter daemon
#
# chkconfig: - 78 30
# processname: shutter
# description: shutter is a daemon process

get_shutter_pid () {
   SHUTTERPID=$( ps aux --cols 1024 | grep "perl" | grep "/usr/bin/shutter" | awk '{ print $2 }' | head -n 1 )
}

PIDFILE=/var/run/shutter.pid

# By default it's all good
RETVAL=0

BASE="/usr/bin"

# See how we were called.
case "$1" in
  start)
    # Start daemon.
    echo -n $"Starting shutter: "
    export DISPLAY=:0
    nohup ${BASE}/shutter > /dev/null &
        sleep 1
        get_shutter_pid
        echo -n ${SHUTTERPID} > ${PIDFILE}
        echo "Start Shutter : pid = ${SHUTTERPID}"
        ;;
  stop)
        # Stop daemons.
        get_shutter_pid
        if ! [ -z "${SHUTTERPID}" ] ; then
           echo "Stop Shutter : pid = ${SHUTTERPID}"
           kill "${SHUTTERPID}"
        fi
        ;;
  restart|force-reload)
        $0 stop
    sleep 8
        $0 start
        ;;
  status)
        get_shutter_pid
        if [ -z "${SHUTTERPID}" ] ; then
            echo "Shutter is stopped"
            exit 1
         else
            echo "Shutter (pid ${SHUTTERPID}) is being executed..."
            exit 0
         fi
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|status}"
    RETVAL=1
    ;;
esac

exit $RETVAL