Run flutter-pi app after boot

[matzesoft]

I want to run my flutter-pi app right after the RaspberryPi has booted up.
At first, I created a script, which runs my flutter-pi project. When running the script just from the command line it worked out completely fine. The goal of the script is it, to restart the flutter-pi app if anything has crashed. After 10 fails the Raspberry Pi will be shutdown.

#!/bin/bash

# Counter how often flutter-pi failed to run.
counter=0
while [ $counter -lt 10 ]
do
    sudo ~/sdks/flutter-pi/out/flutter-pi ~/projects/my_project | tee ~/logs/log.txt-$(date +"%Y-%m-%d-%T")
    echo "MyProject will be restarted in 3 seconds..."
    sleep 3s
    counter=`expr $counter + 1`
done

echo "Unable to start MyProject correctly. The Raspberry will be shutdown in 5 seconds..."
sleep 5s
sudo poweroff

Run the script on boot

I tried to use crontab and systemd (following this tutorial). Both of them resulted in the same problem. After rebooting the Raspberry Pi at first nothing happend. After about 35 seconds the Raspberry Pi just shutdown.
Following of the script from above, flutter-pi failed to run and finally just shutdown.

So how can I run flutter-pi after boot? Thanks for the help!

[DisDis]

Hi, it is easy:)
Autorun script './run.sh' in home dir:
nano ~/run.sh

#!/bin/sh
cd ~/workspace/MyProject
./flutter-pi ./

Init autorun in system
sudo nano /etc/profile
added first line:
/home/pi/run.sh

[DisDis]

And yes, you have to set 'Auto login in console' in Raspi-config
See https://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/raspi_config_boot_02.png

[matzesoft]

Thanks, works good!
But if I am getting it correct this will run the app always when opening a new terminal or SSH session. Is there a way to start the app only one time at boot?
I also wondered if there is an option to quit to the CMD out of the flutter-pi app (for example when pressing a button).

So my goal would be to start the flutter-pi app on boot, but being still able to use the normal shell with SSH or when working locally on the Raspberry Pi.

[w3p706]

I used systemd on ubuntu for that. SSH is still possible, login on device not. Also tty2… is not accessible.

sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/flutter-gui.service

[Unit]
starts the gui

[Service]
Type=Simple
ExecStart=flutter-pi --release /home/hef/flutter_assets

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl enable flutter-gui
sudo systemctl start flutter-gui

[ardera]

@w3p706 's method should work perfectly I think

I also wondered if there is an option to quit to the CMD out of the flutter-pi app (for example when pressing a button).

You can't switch to terminal without terminating flutter-pi, but if you meant terminating flutter-pi without pressing ctrl+c you can also make it terminate by sending it a SIGTERM like this: pkill flutter-pi

EDIT: You can also look at journalctl -u myservice.service and systemctl status myservice.service to find out how/if your service is failing

[matzesoft]

Thanks, finally got it working using systemd!
My mistake was quite simple. I always used ~ instead of the full path /home/pi/. After replacing all ~ to the complete home path everything worked fine...

you can also make it terminate by sending it a SIGTERM like this: pkill flutter-pi

Yeah I meant to exit flutter-pi without having to use a keyboard, just with a software button. Works, thanks for that.

You can also look at journalctl -u myservice.service and systemctl status myservice.service to find out how/if your service is failing

Thank you for that aswell. Helped me getting on the right way.

[kekko7072]

Hey @w3p706 I am trying to do the same using an executable file from c. In this code I also check if there is an update which means there is a new directory and rename it to run it. But my code is not working I edited the sudo nano /etc/rc.local and added this line at the end

echo Running at boot
sudo  /home/pi/start-os

Can someone fix it, or suggest me another way?

`
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>


int main(){
    
    /* CHECK IF UPDATED */
    if (access("/home/pi/update", F_OK) == 0) {
       
        /*RENAME OLD OS*/
        rename("/home/pi/os", "/home/pi/old");

        /*RENAME NEW OS*/
        rename("/home/pi/update", "/home/pi/os");

        /*DELETE OLD OS*/
        system("rm -r /home/pi/old");
    }
    

    system("flutter-pi --release /home/pi/os");
    return 0;
}`

EDIT: Now I am able to load the app at boot using this code

sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/flutter-gui.service (Created this file)

(Added this code)

[Service]
Type=Simple
ExecStart=flutter-pi --release /home/pi/os

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

(made it run it)

sudo systemctl enable flutter-gui
sudo systemctl start flutter-gui
sudo reboot

But how can I do the update check as my c code? I mean check if there is a directory called update (a new flutter project directory downloaded by the user), rename os (current flutter project directory) as old and delete it, rename update to os and then run it.