NEWBIE with simple question

[2010noACAPS]

Hi, I'm running Mac OS X and I need terminal to start running a program as soon as it starts, but am not having any luck. I've never used UNIX before so just have snippets from books and such that aren't working. Is there a way to do this?

Thanks,
T

 

[PHV]

To start a program as soon as a user log on a terminal, simply edit one of the profile script to launch it.
If the rule is system wide, edit [tt]/etc/profile[/tt]
If on user basis, edit [tt].profile[/tt] in each relevant home directory.

Hope This Help, PH.
Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at FAQ219-2884

 

[Ghodmode]

I'm guessing that the terminal you are starting is not a new login shell.

If your default shell is Bash, try setting the [tt]BASH_ENV[/tt] environment variable to the full path and name of a script containing some commands you would like to run when you open your terminal window.

I think the other shells have something equivalent to this.

I'm not certain this will work. I don't have access to any OS X machines.

Please reply here if it works or does not.

--
-- GhodMode

 

[Ghodmode]

I forgot to mention that that variable would need to be set in your .profile.

--
-- GhodMode

 

[2010noACAPS]

GM & PH,

Thank you both for your tips I will try them tonight to see what works and let you guys know. (I hope I don't blow-up my Mac.)


T

 

[2010noACAPS]

OK, I've looked in my book on UNIX, it's a visual quick start book, and it says that I need to add the new path statement directly below:

PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin

But I am still not sure what the new path should look like. Am I just adding where the program is located or what I type in to start the program running,
i.e.

Applications/folder/program

or

Applications/folder/program -nice #

Let me reiterate that I am NO programmer. I'm just a basic home user that would like to have 1 simple program start up automatically when Mac Terminal is started at StartUp.

And I really do appreciate any help you guys can give.


Thanks,
T

 

[stefanwagner]

I guess starting Mac OS X starts a graphical UI.
And that you use it as single-user machine.

Isn't there a 'autostart' - menu or folder?

 

[Ghodmode]

The [tt]PATH[/tt] environment variable just uses the location of the program you want to find, not the program name or any arguments. However, I don't think that it's what you're looking for...

The [tt]PATH[/tt] environment variable will not start a program for you when you start the terminal. It only specifies a list of places to search when you type a command name without specifying the full path.

If you are currently able to type the command in a terminal, without typing the full path, and it will run, then the location of the command is already in your [tt]PATH[/tt].

Try typing [tt]echo $PATH[/tt] in your terminal window and see if the location of your program is already there.

Have you tried the other reccomendations?

--
-- GhodMode

 

[2010noACAPS]

OK, after SW mentioned the 'autostart' menu I added the program I needed to run to the Startup Items of my Accounts folder. It worked...BUT after Terminal started it 1) opened up a new Terminal window and started the program (yeah!) and 2) it put this "/Applications/folder/program; exit". What does the "; exit" do? When I manually start the program I have to put "-nice #" behind the path name. The program started fine, I just would like to know that it's not taking majority of the processor usage and to make sure this is really what I want it to do or do I need to look at another option.

And SW I'm not really sure what you mean by your post. OS X has a GUI or Terminal has a GUI? Because what I'm trying to run is a command line program.


Thanks,
T

 

[stefanwagner]

I'm a linux-user, and don't know, how you handle your MacOsX - even don't know macOsX (yes, heard something about it, but never used it).
I only wanted to be sure.
I don't run a GUI every time I start my pc-linux - therefore a 'autostart-folder' wouldn't be a solution to me.

But I usually login on more than one console - so answer No.1 wouldn't fit to me.

If your program doesn't need a GUI you may start it in different ways than if not.
On linux you may start every program on the console, but few need the X-windowing-system to be up.
Let me say in other words: if you click a button on a desktop, a command is executed, and this command could be given by hand too. But some will not work in 'true-console mode' (no X running) - but I don't know if there is a 'true console mode' [(off topic typed: mood - which is true in some way too too much listening to Norah Jones I guess]
for macOsX.

Given your problem on linux, I would solve the problem with the bootup-scripts in /etc/init.d, /etc/rcX.d - but do they exist on Mac?

 

[2010noACAPS]

Well I think so since OS X is built on top of a UNIX subsystem. I do know that BASH is the default shell that Terminal starts in and I believe I can get to other shells. But I'd rather just stay in BASH since I know that's where my program works. (I don't really no the differnce between shells.)

So, basically OS X is just like running Windows XP, compared to Linux of course. I tried creating a crontab, or whatever it's called, with my UNIX book but I can't find it now. It never did what I wanted it to do anyway, which is to start my program running as soon as my system boots up.

 

[stefanwagner]

I'm not sure whether your autostart-solution works or not.
(I don't know what this 'exit;' means.)

If your X-Autostart solution doesn't work, (can you prove it?) you may try this:
(But the bootscripts differ from distribution (soso, redhack, debil, slackwack, ...)

In my system, bootscripts are stored in

/etc/init.d
There I put my bootscripts.
Then there is a structure of similar directories:

/etc/rc0.d/
/etc/rc1.d/
...
/etc/rc6.d/
/etc/rcS.d/


well - runlevels have numbers.
There are runlevel for different states of the machine:
SingleUser 1, MultiUser 2, MultiUser with Network 3, MUN + X11 4, reboot.
But the numbers for the runlevels differ unfortunately!
Maybee you find hints in
/etc/inittab

If you start into a GUI the machine will first start single-user-mode, then multi-user, ... then X11.
So it may fallback to a less complex level, when a serious error occours on a higher level.

I guess runlevel 1 will be SingleUserMode on every distribution, since it is intuitiv 1=Single.

You might have guessed it: runlevel 1 - files match to the rc1.d/ directory.

If your program needs network-support, it should be put in the 'multi-user-with-network' runlevel- dir.
If it needed a GUI into the 'X11'-runlevel - no4 on my system.


Assumed your script runs in runlevel one.
Therefore you make a link from the script in /etc/init.d/xy.sh to rc1.d.
But you have to look for a free - two-decimal number, because the scripts are started in order of their numbers.

Some scripts depend on other scripts - for example to log warnmessages to /var/log/xy.log the filesystem containing /var/log needs to be mounted first.

Assumed you choose number 88.
Then you link your program this way:
ln -s /etc/init.d/xy.sh /etc/rc1.d/S88xy.sh

The prefix 'S' is used for starting, when entering a runlevel.
The prefix 'K' for killing when leaving the runlevel (not valid in your case).

Your script stops by itself - I guess. It's not a daemon running continously, waiting for something?

 

[2010noACAPS]

Yes, the program runs continuously. Once it finishes with a load it connects to another server to send the result and downloands a new load. I haven't seen rc1.d or anything like that when I look through the directories, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.