/etc/rc.local is not executed at startup

[Christoph Korn]

Binary package hint: upstart

The /etc/rc.local is not executed in karmic.

I use the script to mute the sound with:
amixer set Master 50% mute

But on karmic the sound is not muted which means that the script is not been run.

There is also a thread on ubuntuforums about that.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1289053

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Nov 2 17:36:35 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: upstart 0.6.3-10
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
SourcePackage: upstart
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic x86_64

[EricDHH (ericdhh)]

Confirmed!

No ssd tweaks, no scheduler settungs or the thinkpad osd workaround give any reaction. The /etc/rc.local is not executed.

My t42 was installed from scratch with karmic, no update.

Eric

[Christoph Scheingraber (chris-scheingraber)]

Same problem here, after upgrading from 9.04 to 9.10, the rc.local is not executed (at the end of startup) anymore. The execution bit is set:
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 351 2009-06-29 15:32 /etc/rc.local

The service is also still included in the runlevel directory.

[EricDHH (ericdhh)]

Fiddling around with echo messages i found a logic in that, please check. The rc.local was executed till first error or unclean finished call, that will stop all execution of further lines. Is this a bug or wanted behaviour?

[bert_3262b (bert-rijsdijk-gmail)]

I have the exact same problem in 9.10. rc.local doesn't run. However, it does run when I start in manaully.

My system was upgraded from 9.04, no tweaks in files in /etc/rc.xx

[Borja López Soilán (NeoPolus) (borjals)]

Same problem here: I used to use the rc.local script to set some energy saving parameters on my netbook. But since the upgrade (fresh install) to 9.10 the rc.local does not run anymore.

[Borja López Soilán (NeoPolus) (borjals)]

By the way, this bugs may be related:

Scripts in /etc/rc2.d/ are not executed
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/sysvinit/+bug/453473

After upgrade to karmic cups server do not start.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/444597

[mutewit (amitsaraff)]

I just stumbled across this bug on a fresh install of Karmic Koala on my Lenovo Thinkpad T400(Model 2767-BK1). The script runs fine when executed from a command line but fails to run on system startup.

I have seen various web-pages advising the removal of the '-e' switch on the #!/bin/sh line but that did not help.

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 589 2009-12-15 18:39 /etc/rc.local
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 2009-11-17 12:34 /etc/rc2.d/S99rc.local -> ../init.d/rc.local
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 801 2009-09-07 14:58 /etc/init.d/rc.local

[Brad Johnson (kkhww1902)]

This may be related to this:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/upstart/+bug/500520/comments/11

[Thomy23 (thomas-stather)]

I can confirm this bug, for me the rc.local isn't exectued as well (it hast the rwx-r-xr-x flag)

OS: Ubuntu 9.10 x86_64

ii upstart 0.6.3-10 event-based init daemon

[LeeDaugherty (granfury83)]

     While this might be a duplicate bug, this evening I ran across a minor "typo" on my part that was "preventing" my rc.local from running. Without anyone posting their rc.local I can't confirm if this is the same issue.
     In order to shut up my Microsoft keyboard rolling out keymap errors (due to its battery update polling) I needed to set some 'setkeycodes'. I put 'setkeycodes e001 254' etc... in my rc.local, rebooted...nothing. When I ran rc.local, it ran just fine. On a whim, I passed the full path to rc.local '/usr/bin/setkeycodes e001 254' and rebooted...and it works. I hope this helps, if not, disregard, eventhough the "duplicate" bug to me, has very little to do with the above postings.
     For the heck of it, I used the above amixer command as typed, and it doesn't work. /usr/bin/amixer does.

[Richard Leger (richard-leger)]

Maybe your rc.local script is executed but terminates unexpectidly du to the -e option in the shabang declaration
(e.g #!/bin/sh -e)

With this option, any command in the script returning an error (exit code other than 0) will stop execution of the rc.local script.

Those post might be of some help... or not...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9430202&postcount=33
http://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/viewtopic.php?pid=3535050#p3535050

Also adding a :
/bin/sleep 10
at the begin of the script might help ensuring that other part of the system are fully initialised before running rc.local commands...

Cheers!