Auto start x11vnc with rc.local failed

Question

I add x11vnc start command to /etc/rc.local before exit 0

x11vnc -display :0 -auth ~/.Xauthority -rfbauth ~/.vnc/passwd -forever

after reboot, the systemctl status was failed:

process:408 execstart=/etc/rc.local start (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

I try to enable used command:

systemctl enable rc-local

the error:

The Unit files have no installation config (WantedBy ...

so, I created overflow.conf in /etc/systemd/system/rc-local.service.d, add :

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

but failed again after reboot. It can be changed to active, I think there is some steps I have skipped for systemctl. Please help what need i do. thanks.

Answer 1

There are some things mixed up with your setup. Execution of /etc/rc.local is emulated from systemd by Compatibility with SysV but it cannot do it 100 % compatible. This job is done by the unit rc-local.service. There are two types of units: active and static. Static units have no [Install] section and cannot be enabled to run at startup by itself. They can only run if they are Wants= or Requires= by other units. rc-local.service is deep integrated into the systemd bootup environment and there are good reasons that it is static. If you fiddle on this integrated configuration you risk to break the whole systemd installation. To get an idea what I mean you can:

rpi ~$ systemctl list-dependencies rc-local.service
rpi ~$ systemctl show multi-user.target

and in the pager search for rc-local.

If you want to work with systemd then you should revert all settings, better start with a fresh flashed image, and then make a clean unit to start x11vnc without touching rc.local. If there are some problems then ask a new question.