Init.d shell script for Play framework distributed application. Provides start, stop, restart and status commands to control applications packaged using standard "play dist" packaging command.

dist-play-app-initd

#!/bin/bash
#
# =========================================================================
# Copyright 2014 Rado Buransky, Dominion Marine Media
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.
# ========================================================================
#
#
# Check this blog post I wrote with detailed information:
# http://buransky.com/play-framework/init-d-shell-script-for-play-framework-distributed-application/
#
#
# Script to start, stop and check status of a Play framework application. It requires
# the Play application to be packaged using the "dist" command. Before you run the script,
# you have to set values of NAME, PORT and APP_DIR variables.
#
#         NAME – name of the application, must be the same as the name of shell script
#                generated by Play framework to run the app
#         PORT – port number at which the app should run
#         APP_DIR – path to directory where you have unzipped the packaged app
#
#
# Usage: control.sh {start|stop|status|restart}
#    port - requred for start and restart commands
#
# Example: control.sh restart app-name 9000
#
#
# The script uses RUNNING_PID file generated by Play framework which contains ID of the
# application server process.
#
#
# START YOUR APPLICATION WHEN MACHINE STARTS
# ==========================================
#
# The script uses RUNNING_PID file generated by Play framework which contains ID of
# the application server process.
#
#
# SAFE START
# ==========
#
# After starting the application the script checks whether the RUNNING_PID file has
# been created and whether the process is really running. After that it uses wget
# utility to issue an HTTP GET request for root document to do yet another check
# whether the server is alive. Of course this assumes that your application serves
# this document. If you don’t like (or have) wget I have provided curl version for
# your convenience as well.
#
#
# SAFE STOP
# =========
#
# Stop checks whether the process whose ID is in the RUNNING_PID file really belongs
# to your application. This is an important check so that we don’t kill an innocent
# process by accident. Then it sends termination signals to the process starting
# with the most gentle ones until the process dies.
#
#

# Script arguments (start, stop, restart or status)
COMMAND=$1

# ***********************************************
# *************  Set these variables  ***********

NAME=
PORT=
APP_DIR=

# Example:
 NAME=jugjane
 PORT=9000
 APP_DIR=/home/rado/bin/jugjane-1.1-SNAPSHOT

# ***********************************************
# ***********************************************

# Additional arguments to be passed to the Play application
APP_ARGS=-Dhttp.port=${PORT}

# Path to the RUNNING_PID file containing process ID
PID_FILE=$APP_DIR/RUNNING_PID

# Helper functions
echoProgress()
{
	setColor 6
        printf "%-70s" "$1..."
	resetColor
	return 0
}

echoError()
{
	setColor 6
        printf "ERROR"
        if [ ! -z "$1" ]
        then
		resetColor
                printf " [$1]"
        fi
        printf "\n"
	resetColor
	return 0
}

echoOK()
{
	setColor 2
        printf "OK"
        if [ ! -z "$1" ]
        then
		resetColor
                printf " [$1]"
        fi
        printf "\n"
	resetColor
	return 0
}

checkResult()
{
        if [ "$1" -ne 0 ]
        then
                echoError "$2"
                exit 1
        fi
}

setColor()
{
        tput setaf $1 2>/dev/null
}

resetColor()
{
        tput sgr0 2>/dev/null
}

# Checks if RUNNING_PID file exists and whether the process is really running.
checkPidFile()
{
	if [ -f $PID_FILE ]
	then
		if ps -p `cat $PID_FILE` > /dev/null
		then
			# The file exists and the process is running
			return 1
		else
			# The file exitsts, but the process is dead
			return 2
		fi
	fi

	# The file doesn't exist
	return 0
}

# Gently kill the given process
kill_softly()
{
	SAFE_CHECK=`ps $@ | grep [-]Duser.dir=$APP_DIR`
	if [ -z "$SAFE_CHECK" ]
	then
		# Process ID doesn't belong to expected application! Don't kill it!
		return 1
	else
		# Send termination signals one by one
		for sig in TERM HUP INT QUIT PIPE KILL; do
			if ! kill -$sig "$@" > /dev/null 2>&1 ;
			then
				break
			fi
			sleep 2
		done
	fi
}

# Get process ID from RUNNING_PID file and print it
printPid()
{
	PID=`cat $PID_FILE`
	printf "PID=$PID"
}

# Check port input argument
checkPort()
{
	if [ -z "$PORT" ]
	then
		echoError "Port not set!"
		return 1
	fi
}

# Check input arguments
checkArgs()
{
	# Check command
	case "$COMMAND" in
		start | stop | restart | status) ;;
		*)
			echoError "Unknown command"
			return 1
		;;
	esac

	# Check application name
	if [ -z "$NAME" ]
	then
		echoError "Application name not set!"
		return 1
	fi

	# Check application directory
	if [ -z "$APP_DIR" ]
	then
		echoError "Application installation directory not set!"
		return 1
	fi

	# Check port
	case "$COMMAND" in
		start | restart)
			checkPort
			if [ $? != 0 ]
			then
				return 1
			fi
		;;
	esac
}

checkAppStarted()
{
	# Wait a bit 
	sleep 3

	# Check if RUNNING_PID file exists and if process is really running
	checkPidFile
	if [ $? != 1 ]
	then
		echoError
		cat $TMP_LOG 1>&2
		exit 1
	fi

	local HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE

	# Issue HTTP GET request using wget to check if the app is really started. Of course this
	# command assumes that your server supports GET for the root URL.
	HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE=`wget -SO- "http://localhost:$PORT/" 2>&1 | grep "HTTP/" | awk '{print $2}'`

	# The same functionality but using curl. For your convenience.
	#HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE=`curl --connect-timeout 20 --retry 3 -o /dev/null --silent --write-out "%{http_code}" http://localhost:$PORT/`

	checkResult $? "no response from server, timeout"

	if [ $HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE != 200 ]
	then
		echoError "HTTP GET / = $HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE"
		exit 1
	fi
}

# Check input arguments
checkArgs
if [ $? != 0 ]
then
	echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|restart}"
	exit 1
fi

case "${COMMAND}" in
	start)
		echoProgress "Starting $NAME at port $PORT"

		checkPidFile
		case $? in
			1)	echoOK "$(printPid) already started"
				exit ;;
			2)	# Delete the RUNNING_PID FILE			
				rm $PID_FILE ;;		
		esac

		SCRIPT_TO_RUN=$APP_DIR/bin/$NAME
		if [ ! -f $SCRIPT_TO_RUN ]
		then
			echoError "Play script doesn't exist!"
			exit 1
		fi
			
		# * * * Run the Play application * * *
		TMP_LOG=`mktemp`
		PID=`$SCRIPT_TO_RUN $APP_ARGS > /dev/null 2>$TMP_LOG & echo $!`

		# Check if successfully started
		if [ $? != 0 ]
		then
			echoError
			exit 1
		else
			checkAppStarted
			echoOK "PID=$PID"
		fi
	;;
	status)
		echoProgress "Checking $NAME at port $PORT"
		checkPidFile
		case $? in
			0)	echoOK "not running" ;;
			1)	echoOK "$(printPid) running" ;;
			2)	echoError "process dead but RUNNING_PID file exists" ;;
		esac
	;;
	stop)
		echoProgress "Stopping $NAME"
		checkPidFile
		case $? in
			0)	echoOK "wasn't running" ;;
			1)	PRINTED_PID=$(printPid)
				kill_softly `cat $PID_FILE`
				if [ $? != 0 ]
				then
					echoError "$PRINTED_PID doesn't belong to $NAME! Human intervention is required."
					exit 1
				else
					echoOK "$PRINTED_PID stopped"
				fi ;;
			2)	echoError "RUNNING_PID exists but process is already dead" ;;
		esac
	;;

	restart)
		$0 stop $NAME $PORT
		if [ $? == 0 ]
		then
			$0 start $NAME $PORT
			if [ $? == 0 ]
			then
				# Success
				exit
			fi
		fi
		exit 1
	;;
esac

You've hard-coded the port at line 264

@Evildethow Thanks, fixed.

Does this work with Play 2.3.x ? When I try it I get the following Error: ERROR [Play script doesn't exist!]

I had to put a sleep on line 259 to give the web server a few seconds to start.

this is great, thank you 👍

very nice, thanks!

P.S if you are adding more items to APP_ARGS make sure you put in in quotes:

APP_ARGS=" ... "

very nice, thank you.

Good stuff, thanks for posting

Hey BenBestmann, with Play 2.3.x I had kinda the same issue.

Ubuntu 12.04
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ ./activator debian:packageBin
$ sudo dpkg -i target/MobileAPI-1.0-SNAPSHOT.deb

$ tail /var/log/syslog
Feb 16 17:02:17 vagrant kernel: [  892.834802] init: /etc/init/mobileapi.conf:13: Expected operator

$ vim /etc/init/mobileapi.conf

Change the parenthesis in line 13 and 17:

From:  start on started (networking)
To: start on (started networking)

From: stop on stopping (networking)
To: stop on (stopping networking)

playframework/playframework#2968

Many Thanks!

Thank you very much!

Thanks a lot.

It works perfectly but I get line 263: [: !=: unary operator expected on start

Good!

I have improved a bit the checkAppStarted so that it does not sleep for a fixed amount:

241 checkAppStarted()
242 {
243         # Wait a bit
244         sleep 2
245
246         # Check if RUNNING_PID file exists and if process is really running
247         checkPidFile
248         if [ $? != 1 ]
249         then
250                 echoError
251                 cat $TMP_LOG 1>&2
252                 exit 1
253         fi
254
255         local HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE
256         COUNTER=0
257
258         while [ "$HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE" != "200" ] && [ $COUNTER -lt 10 ]; do
259                 sleep 1
260                 # Issue HTTP GET request using wget to check if the app is really started. Of course this
261                 # command assumes that your server supports GET for the root URL.
262                 HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE=`wget -SO- "http://localhost:$PORT/" 2>&1 | grep "HTTP/" | awk '{print $2}'`
263
264                 # The same functionality but using curl. For your convenience.
265                 #HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE=`curl --connect-timeout 20 --retry 3 -o /dev/null --silent --write-out "%{http_code}" http://localhost:$PORT/`
266
267                 checkResult $? "no response from server, timeout"
268                 let COUNTER+=1
269         done
270
271         if [ "$HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE" != "200" ]
272         then
273                 echoError "HTTP GET / = $HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE"
274                 exit 1
275         fi
276 }

I am using Play 2.3.x. I am getting the below issue:
ERROR [Play script doesn't exist!]
How do I get it work?

@skkarthi87 add the variable to that print, like echoError "Play script $SCRIPT_TO_RUN doesn't exist!", then you should be able to see why. For me, it was because I used $HOME in $SCRIPT_TO_RUN, but $HOME wasn't defined in this context.

Thank you very much.:metal: It is really useful :metal:

+1 for @RadoBuranski and @Iqbweb!! <3

Had to add "" to APP_ARGS but other then that works great
Thanks!

With @lqbweb modification it works like a charm! Thanks!

Forked here to working solution: https://gist.github.com/atais/2634d84bdec20593454a3cbae0cd3598

unable to set two different services for two different play servers running in single VPS on ubuntu? any help could be appreciated

I use a much shorter script to do this, you can find it here: https://gist.github.com/Technowise/47f71f1b2c128d1f2759d4027341f4dc

Have anyone tried to run this script into Docker container?

Does this only run the play app as the root user?

Have anyone tried to run this script into Docker Container in daemon mode?? I have script modified and we have been running in production for couple years now but can't make it to work in Docker Container. https://gist.github.com/maxyermayank/09f932a5aa0ea052914ba9e69c623841