How to Run Scripts on Boot in Linux Using Systemd

Introduction

In this article, we will configure our Linux computer to autorun a script on boot. For the purpose of this article, we will be making use of systemd services.

BTW, I use Arch Linux, so if there’s any difference using a different distro, do not hesitate to leave a comment, please.

What is systemd?

systemd is a suite of basic building blocks for a Linux system. It provides a system and a service manager that runs as PID and starts the rest of the system. systemd provides aggressive parallelization capabilities, uses sockets and D-Bus activation for starting services, keeps track of processes, etc.

You can read more on systemd here.

The main command used to introspect and control systemd is systemctl.

Steps

First, we will create a Bash script in /usr/local/sbin, for instance [notifyRemote.sh]

(http://notifyRemote.sh), that would notify a remote machine once it’s booted.
We will make the file executable by running the command:
```
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/notifyRemote.sh
```
Create a Unit file called startup.service in /etc/systemd/system/ to define a systemd service. You will need root access (sudo) to make changes or create these files.
We will make the file executable by running the command:
```
sudo chmod +x /etc/systemd/system/startup.service
```

In /etc/systemd/system/startup.service, we would paste the below into the file as such:

[Unit]
Description=My Startup

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/sbin/notifyRemote.sh

[Install]
WantedBy=multi.user.target

The ExecStart is the most important key here because it points to the Bash program that will run when the service is started.
We can test the service by running sudo systemctl start startup.service to confirm that the script will run.
Now to enable services to run on boot, we will run the command:
```
sudo systemctl enable startup.service
```

Conclusion

Now, we should successfully create a script that runs automatically anytime we start our Linux machine.

You can consult the systemd man page for more information.

I hope you find this helpful. Please leave a like, comment, and share if you found this helpful, and also you can consider buying me a coffee too.

Also published here: https://blog.zt4ff.dev/running-scripts-on-boot-in-linux-using-systemd