Run docker container on boot but only after Kodi has loaded

ajiratech · October 2, 2018 at 6:06 PM

Hi ,

I"m able to successfully run a docker container and some scripts upon boot up via the use to autostart.sh. But some of my scripts need Kodi to be up and running. Adding sleep in autostart.sh does not help as it delays the loading of Kodi as well.

Since I am troubleshooting some other issues with the scripts and need to restart it manually as well (without system reboot) - I cannot add sleep because then

upon manual restart the sleep will slow me down while testing and troubleshooting.

Is there a way to run a script in Librelec upon boot but after Kodi has loaded ?

ajiratech · October 2, 2018 at 7:14 PM

I created a service under /storage/.config/system.d/myServer.service with contents:

Code

[Unit]
Description=Script to autostart my Services after kodi has loaded

[Service]
After=kodi.service
ExecStart=/storage/.customScriptOnBoot

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

But this fails to run. I get the following error message in journalctl "

myServer.service: Failed at step EXEC spawning /storage/.customScriptOnBoot: Exec format error

I don't see where the problem is with the format. Please advice. Thanks in advance.

**vpeter** · October 2, 2018 at 7:30 PM

Try

Code

ExecStart=/bin/sh -c "exec sh /storage/.customScriptOnBoot"

ajiratech · October 2, 2018 at 8:17 PM

Thanks vpeter .

This resolved the Format error message but there still are two issues:

1. The script does not get executed automatically upon boot after kodi loads.

2. When I start it manually 'systemctl start myServer.service' it fails with error message "docker: not found."

It looks like that the shell I enter into is not able to access the docker, because when I execute the docker command from command line in LE ssh I am able to get the desired results - docker loads and everything works.

I even tried this:
ExecStart=/bin/sh -c "/storage/.customScriptOnBoot"

and still get the same error "docker: not found".

Any other way to execute the script without opening up another shell? Thanks in advance.

**mglae** · October 3, 2018 at 12:01 AM

Code

ExecStart=/bin/sh -l /storage/.customScriptOnBoot

ajiratech · October 3, 2018 at 7:01 PM

Thanks mglae .

This worked. My script is is able to find docker and execute it.

The only problem remaining is the timing. The script executes before docker daemon and Kodi has completed loading. Any suggestions on how to delay the execution of this service until kodi has completed loading completely? I have the following set in script but it doesn't seem to work.

Code

After=kodi.service

**mglae** · October 3, 2018 at 9:44 PM

Systemd only knows when Kodi is started and has no information about the internal state.

You can create a systemd timer with OnBootSec= that start your service after a short time at boot.

ajiratech · October 4, 2018 at 12:29 AM

Thanks mglae .

That would have worked well and been an acceptable solution. In my situation the problem is that this embedded device does not have a RTC which means it was starting with incorrect time and correcting the time during boot up via NTP. I think that is preventing the OnBootSec= from working as desired.

I removed everything and added the After=docker.service and that seems to have worked. It seems to kick off my script after Kodi loads even though I see docker starting up before kodi completes loading.

I'll keep a close eye on it and will revert if this starts to fail. But for now, I think anyone wanting to run custom scripts that deal with docker and need kodi running before it could use the same settings

Code

[Unit]
Description=Script to autostart Privatebox App after kodi has loaded
After=docker.service

[Service]
ExecStart=/storage/.customScriptOnBoot

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Thanks for your help!

**chewitt** · October 8, 2018 at 5:01 AM Official Post

Another alternative would be to install portainer via the LinuxServer.io repo (their repo installer is in our repo) as this is wrapped as a Kodi addon and so depends on Kodi; so it won't be started until after Kodi starts, and any containers that it manages are started after portainer.

**mglae** · October 8, 2018 at 11:53 PM

The Kodi addon packages are only used to install docker and portainer. They are started before Kodi as systemd services wanted by multi-user.target .

ajiratech · October 12, 2018 at 5:09 PM

Thanks chewitt and mglae. I'll try that out. For now I added a sleep 8 and made it start after docker.service. It seems to be working as desired after several reboots.

**aptalca** · October 12, 2018 at 8:08 PM

Another option would be to not define any restart options for the container and use a systemd service to manage it

ajiratech · October 12, 2018 at 8:10 PM

Thanks aptalca .

I'll try that out sometime.

JimmySmith · December 16, 2018 at 2:55 PM

I have similiar issue, but I need to run container BEFORE kodi tries to start.

I installed MariaDB through docker

Code

docker run -d p 3306:3306 --volume=/storage/mysql:/config -e TZ="CET-1CEST,M3.5.0,M10.5.0/3" -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=xoxo -e=MYSQL_USER=xyxy -e=MYSQL_PASSWORD=xzxz --name mysql lsioarmhf/mariadb

Docker service is already in system.d. If I would define "--restart unless-stopped" for container, it would be started automatically, but I dont know how to control startp sequence. And I need to have DB up before Kodi start, obviously, to be able interconnect Kodi and MariaDB.

I already tried /storage/.config/system.d

Code

[Unit]
Description=MySQL Container
Requires=service.system.docker.service
After=service.system.docker.service
Before=kodi.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/bin/sh -c "exec sh /storage/mysql_start.sh"
ExecStop=/bin/sh -c "exec sh /storage/mysql_stop.sh"
TimeoutStartSec=60
TimeoutStopSec=60
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
StartLimitInterval=0

[Install]
WantedBy=kodi.target

Display More

where mysql_start.sh is just docker start mysql but for some reason this service doesnt work...

**aptalca** · December 17, 2018 at 2:10 AM

Quote from JimmySmith
I have similiar issue, but I need to run container BEFORE kodi tries to start.

I installed MariaDB through docker
Code
docker run -d p 3306:3306 --volume=/storage/mysql:/config -e TZ="CET-1CEST,M3.5.0,M10.5.0/3" -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=xoxo -e=MYSQL_USER=xyxy -e=MYSQL_PASSWORD=xzxz --name mysql lsioarmhf/mariadb
Docker service is already in system.d. If I would define "--restart unless-stopped" for container, it would be started automatically, but I dont know how to control startp sequence. And I need to have DB up before Kodi start, obviously, to be able interconnect Kodi and MariaDB.

I already tried /storage/.config/system.d
Code
[Unit]
Description=MySQL Container
Requires=service.system.docker.service
After=service.system.docker.service
Before=kodi.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/bin/sh -c "exec sh /storage/mysql_start.sh"
ExecStop=/bin/sh -c "exec sh /storage/mysql_stop.sh"
TimeoutStartSec=60
TimeoutStopSec=60
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
StartLimitInterval=0

[Install]
WantedBy=kodi.target
Display More
where mysql_start.sh is just docker start mysql but for some reason this service doesnt work...

Use the mariadb addon instead

JimmySmith · December 17, 2018 at 5:13 PM

Strange I cant make it work otherwise..

I tried the plugin, its kinda works, but I cant disable binary logging there (propably because

Code

root@210c880000ea:/# cat /etc/mysql/my.cnf  | grep log_bin
log_bin                 = /config/log/mysql/mariadb-bin
log_bin_index           = /config/log/mysql/mariadb-bin.index

is defined within container, and its not possible to disable binary logging through custom.cnf)

and I dont know why, but mysql is toooo slow. Dunno, if its by docker, or MariaDB, or kodi version (leia), but Kodi 16.1 with vPeters MySQL is really snappy compared with docker@leia+mariadb