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Getting /etc/rc.local file to work on Debian 9 (Stretch)

Debian Stretch uses the rc.local service for executing commands on system startup. To use this service we need to run the following commands:

  • If the /etc/systemd/system/rc-local.service does not exist, then it should be created with following contents:
[Unit]
 Description=/etc/rc.local Compatibility
 ConditionPathExists=/etc/rc.local

[Service]
 Type=forking
 ExecStart=/etc/rc.local start
 TimeoutSec=0
 StandardOutput=tty
 RemainAfterExit=yes
 SysVStartPriority=99

[Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target
  • Give executable permissions to the /etc/systemd/system/rc-local.service file
sudo chmod +x /etc/systemd/system/rc-local.service
  • Gve executable permissions to the /etc/rc.local file
sudo chmod +x /etc/rc.local
  • Enable the rc-local service to start on boot
sudo systemctl enable rc-local
  • Start the rc-local service
sudo systemctl start rc-local.service
  • Check the status of the rc-local service
sudo systemctl status rc-local.service
  • If the rc.local file does not exit, then create it with the following contents:
#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.

exit 0

See the discussion How to Enable /etc/rc.local with Systemd for more information on getting /etc/rc.local to work on Debian 9

Published Sep 5, 2018

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