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(Using an Ubuntu EC2 on AWS)

I've a script, /home/ubuntu/start.sh. If I run it as ubuntu, it runs well. I need it to be run at launch, so I put it in /etc/rc.local. This will then be run as root on reboot, and this fails. I'm able to reproduce the failure by:

# I'm ubuntu
$ whoami
ubuntu
$ sudo su
# i'm now root
$ whoami
root
$ ./start.sh
./start.sh: line 9: npm: command not found
$ su -c ./start.sh - ubuntu
./start.sh: line 9: npm: command not found

So it looks like:

  • root doesn't know about npm (installed by ubuntu under /home/ubuntu/.nvm/versions/node/v4.2.6/bin/npm so that makes sense)
  • su -c ./start.sh - ubuntu doesn't exactly run the script as ubuntu

How can I run this script exactly as if I was logged in as ubuntu?

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  • As user ubuntu this could work to run as root: sudo -E ./start.sh Regarding /etc/rc.local. I would run it as user ubuntu: sudo -i -u ubuntu /home/ubuntu/start.sh Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 23:22

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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PATH=$PATH:/node/v4.2.6/bin/ ./start.sh

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  • I saw how that could work, but is there a more systematic way to solve this? Because I'll have to do that for each program that's unknown from root, or if I change my npm version etc. Can I not just tell root "become ubuntu for a sec, do a few things like ubuntu would do, and become root again" ? Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 23:11
  • Then launch it with ubuntu user from crontab. @reboot. Don't forget PATH! Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 23:15
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Edit /etc/rc.local with your favorite text editor.

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

And add the line su ubuntu -c /etc/rc.local/ubuntu/start.sh & (if that is indeed the path to your file)

This runs /etc/rc.local/ubuntu/start.sh as the user ubuntu on startup and as a background process.

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  • Based on what you describe about starting and stopping it sounds like you'll want to make a daemon that you can /etc/init.d/myservice start (or stop) Commented Nov 4, 2016 at 23:30

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