I am looking to run a script (namely, one that starts the Synergy Client) at startup BEFORE login (because plugging in a keyboard whenever I reboot to login is getting annoying). I am fairly sure that I know the command to input into /etc/rc.local, however I believe this runs the script at root. This is a problem. If this becomes a process owned by root, the user (me) can not stop and then restart the client in case something goes wrong such as an interruption in the connection. How do I run this task as me and not root on startup?

Hi,

You can use su for that:
Cheers

2 members found this post helpful.

Going off the manual page:

That is so simple. Why didn't think of that?

Thank you for your help!

i like to use crontab (@reboot) for stuff like this.

ok, I spoke too soon

I have tried all three of the suggestions in this thread. Synergy still does not start when I boot. I need it to start at boot BEFORE the user login as there is no keyboard and mouse attached to this pc. Both keyboard and mouse commands are handled though Synergy.

This is the script I am using:
And here is the line in /etc/rc.local:
When I run 'su -c /home/user1/bash_scripts/start_synergy.bash - user1' from the command line (as root) it works like a charm.

What am I doing wrong? This command depends upon a working network connection. Does this run before the network card is up and running?

##EDIT## The network thing should not be a problem. I have another line in rc.local that uses google-drive-ocamlfuse to connect to my Google Drive folder and it runs without a hitch. So there is SOMETHING about the synergyc command.

probably... does cron email you an error (mail) ?

you can try putting something like sleep 60 before the command ?

rc.local is executed as the last thing in the boot process, so network is should be already up
Perhaps you have to add the path to the su command and also try some other variations:

Alright. I admit it. I did not RTFM: http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/autostart.html

It says right in the documentation for Synergy in easy to follow directions how to start synergy before login. It was very simple and I had it up and running the way I wanted in a few short minutes. Feel really stupid now for making this thread for nothing.

For those of you too lazy to look at the link:
synergy requires X server to be running before it can run. That means it needs to be started with the desktop manager. In my case (gnome) I edited three files in the /etc/gdm folder. Works like a charm.

If you need me I will be in the corner with my dunce cap on.