Autolaunch Programs on LXDE startup

Question

I am having some issues with auto-starting programs when my Raspberry Pi 2 boots. I have tried editing both /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart & /etx/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart and neither made any difference. I put the following code in both files

@lxpanel --profile LXDE-pi
@pcmanfm --desktop --profile LXDE-pi
#@xscreensaver -no-splash
@sh ${HOME}/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autokey.sh
@iceweasel

Are the tutorials I am following outdated or is there another autostart file to edit? My goal is to boot right into a fullscreen web browser in kiosk mode and no mouse.

Answer 1

You should edit ~/.config/lxsession/<profile>/autostart if you have it, or make sure it is removed if you need a global LXSession configuration for all users. If you happen to have both files, the global configuration will be ignored:

Commands globally executed are stored in the /etc/xdg/lxsession//autostart file, and in addition, other commands can be locally specified in the ~/.config/lxsession//autostart file. If both files are present, only the entries in the local file will be executed.

If that doesn't help, I would be inclined to check if LXSession is actually used as your session manager (e.g. by checking X11 config files or running ps ax | grep lxsession). I know it sounds silly, but it's not impossible to install e.g. openbox, forget about it, then wonder why LXSession ignores its config files.

Answer 2

I use crontab because it is simple and equally useful for running all kinds of automated scripts regardless of the Linux/Unix system you happen to be using. This is also answered on this question. Below, my own code:

Open crontab:

sudo crontab -e

Instead of the usual crontab format for date (eg. */5 * * * * script_name) use @reboot:

@reboot sudo python /home/pi/python_scripts/script.py &

I use sudo in both instances because it is required for the script I am running. Thw ampersand & at the end runs the script in the background.

Answer 3

In the /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart file, ${HOME} and ~/ don't seem to work. Instead, as a work around, put in an absolute path. The line should therefore look like:

@/home/<you>/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autokey.sh

Answer 4

If you just want to execute simple commands on boot, run crontab -e to edit commands that can be run at certain times, intervals, or at boot. Each crontab is user specific. If you wanted to run sh ${HOME}/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autokey.sh and iceweasel on boot, simple add the line @reboot sh ${HOME}/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autokey.sh && iceweasel to the end of your crontab file.

Answer 5

I haven't been right through this: http://blogs.wcode.org/2013/09/howto-boot-your-raspberry-pi-into-a-fullscreen-browser-kiosk/ but the approach, using rc.local (I use successfully this for an auto-boot for a personal project) looks plausible. Also, it's fine grained, deals with screen resolution etc.

I wouldn't use crontab for this, that's mainly for timed batch programs, for example, zipping up log files each day and sending them somewhere.

Best regards Hugh

Answer 6

When Using

sudo nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart

You are then able to add lines for example:

@/usr/bin/python /home/pi/example.py

Depending what you are running you will need to include the location of what you want to run. You also have to input it in a similar fashion as you would in a terminal. As the previous example you have to call Python before running a python script.