Give non privileged, normal users, on a Linux machine a way to start their desired processes during system boot and/or shutdown. Every user(UID >= 1000) including the root user get three new hidden directories in their home directory(automatically created on first run):
.startUp
.shutDown
.status
Executable files in those directories get executed on corresponding system events. Files found in .startUp directory are executed in the background(asynchronously) unless they have a .foreground extension which overrides that default behaviour. That is useful for example if some user has multiple services/scripts which depend on each other.
Similary, files found in .shutDown and .status directories are executed in foreground(synchronously) by default, unless they have a .background extension.
Special .status directory is there to provide the root user with a method to call custom status reporting from users who implemented that(optional). Root user would call: service userspaceServices status and that would basically execute all files in .status directories one by one. The processes are started as user processes, not as roots, so security is preserved. An example of status process could simply be a script which calls ps to display running processes of that user.
This is a Linux System V init daemon compatible init script(tested on Debian Wheezy 7.4.0).
- Place the userspaceServices script in /etc/init.d/.
- Make it executable with chmod +x userspaceServices
- Run update-rc.d userspaceServices defaults so that symbolic links in all /etc/rc?.d directories get configured automatically.