UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I've put this script in /etc/rc.d and made a symbolic link to it from S99pctb in /etc/rc.d/rc3.d but it wont start up. Anyone know why ?

This is the script:

---------------------------
#!/bin/sh
c=1

case "$1" in
start)
echo -n "starting pctb ..." > /etc/logger
while [ $c -lt 10 ]; do
x=`/bin/date -u +%k`
y=`expr $x + 1`

case $y in
0|1|2|3|4|5|6) /sbin/shutdown -h "now";;
*);;
esac

/bin/sleep 5

done
;;

stop)
;;
esac
--------------------------------------------------

Marcus.

What exactly do you want to do in this script? It looks like you are trying to shutdown the system if the time is between 0100 to 0700 UTC you want to shutdown and halt the system.
Is that what you really want?

Also, are you sure that your script is actually running? Maybe you could have the script echo something to a file in the / directory right at the start to make sure of that.

That's right. i want to make the machine unavailable at night.

I've tried echoing to a file at the start, and it doesnt happen so it seems that the script just isn't starting at all.

if you want to shut the system down when its between 1 and 7 o'clock, you should rather make a cronjob an run it every half our

then you have a chance to stop it in case you try to start the machine for any reason in the night

if you are the only person that uses this machine, rather make something like

0 0 * * * /sbin/shutdown -h now >> /etc/logger 2>&1

in /etc/crontab

why do you use arguments? when you don't want to start the script simply don't run it I'm confused ^^

Since the script only works when the system is powered up, I think he wants the system to power back off if someone happens to turn it on after he's gone home.

Two things to look for. Is the script executable? Is run level 3 your system init level. Check /etc/inittab and see what your init:3:initdefault line is set to. If the number is '2', then you aren't getting to run level 3 and the script won't run.

Solaris (for example) goes through the run levels until it reaches the one set with init. So if inittab is set to run level 3, it runs through 2 running scripts and then processes scripts in 3.

Linux reads the run level and goes directly to the rc directory and processes the scripts. So you need to have links in each of the directories (rc2.d and rc3.d for example).

So if it's linux and the inittab is pointing to run level 5 as the initdefault, you'll need to link the script into /etc/rc5.d.

Carl

May I suggest simply bringing down the network interface rather than shutting down the system? Then, in the morning, bring it back online. This, of course, does not prevent console access but, quite frankly, shutting down the box doesn't either (it just takes longer).

Many Thanks to all for the input. In the end I used the easiest method. I put * * * * * in the crontab file to run the command every minute.

Is there something I need to do to register this thread as resolved ?
Marcus.