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2.5 Boot Auto-Start Configuration

There are multiple ways to add auto-start programs in Ubuntu. This section provides two methods for reference.

Configure an Auto-Start Service​

  1. Create a startup script

    Use any text editor to create a new startup script in the /etc/init.d directory. Assume the script is named your_script_name. Below is a sample script for reference:

    #!/bin/bash

    ### BEGIN INIT INFO
    # Provides:          your_service_name
    # Required-Start:    $all
    # Required-Stop:     
    # Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
    # Default-Stop:      0 1 6
    # Short-Description: Start your_service_name at boot time
    # Description:       Enable service provided by your_service_name
    ### END INIT INFO

    /path/to/your/program &

    exit 0

  2. Make the startup script executable

    sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/your_script_name

  3. Use the update-rc.d command to add the script to the system's startup items

    sudo update-rc.d your_script_name defaults

  4. Enable auto-start using the systemctl command

    sudo systemctl enable your_script_name

  5. Reboot the development board to verify that the auto-start service runs correctly

    root@ubuntu:~# systemctl status your_script_name.service 
    ● your_script_name.service - LSB: Start your_service_name at boot time
        Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/your_script_name; generated)
        Active: active (exited) since Wed 2023-04-19 15:01:12 CST; 57s ago
        Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
        Process: 2768 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/your_script_name start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Add to the rc.local Service​

rc.local is a system service used to automatically execute scripts or commands during system boot. This service is automatically invoked at system startup and executes user-specified scripts or commands after the system has finished booting, enabling custom configurations or operations at boot time.

In earlier Linux distributions, rc.local was the last service executed by default during the system boot process. With the widespread adoption of systemd, rc.local is now considered a legacy system service.

You can implement this by adding your startup command at the end of the /etc/rc.local file (edited via sudo vim /etc/rc.local), for example:

#!/bin/bash -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.

# Insert what you need

exit 0
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