How I can run init scripts as non-root user?

Question

I put this file in /etc/init/proxyserver.conf that execute this script at startup (Ubuntu 11.10):

description "Run code for ProxyServer"
start on runlevel [23]

script
    cd /home/mark/selenium-client
    exec java -jar selenium-server-standalone-2.20.0.jar -role hub -port 1111
end script

This works fine but if I execute this in the terminal:

ps aux | grep selenium

It return this screen:

root  783   0.0   2.3  680584   23688   ?   Ssl   Apr18   4:45   java -jar selenium-server-standalone-2.20.0.jar -role hub -port 1111

But I want to run the script as non-root user, how I can do this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You could run it in crontab with the @reboot option

crontab -e to open up the user crontab.

add the line @reboot /path/to/script and it should start up your script on reboot as that user

Some more examples of cron use here

Answer 2

In Upstart, use the setuid keyword:

description "Run code for ProxyServer"
start on runlevel [23]

setuid mark
chdir /home/mark/selenium-client
exec java -jar selenium-server-standalone-2.20.0.jar -role hub -port 1111

(script is unnecessary.)

Alternatively, create a user job instead of a system one.

Answer 3

You could use e.g.

sudo -u mark exec java -jar selenium-server-standalone-2.20.0.jar -role hub -port 1111

to use the root privileges to execute the process as a specified user.

---

EDIT: Or perhaps

exec sudo -u mark java -jar selenium-server-standalone-2.20.0.jar -role hub -port 1111

depending on what upstart wants (I don't use it myself).