gistfile1.txt

The exec command is not implemend by default for init.rc despite what the readme.txt says. Add the following to get it working.

file: android/system/core/init/builtins.c

int do_exec(int nargs, char **args)
{
    const int cmd_line_max = 256;
    char cmd_line[cmd_line_max];
    int cmd_length, i;
    
    cmd_line[0] = '\0';
    cmd_length = 0;
    
    for(i = 1; i < nargs; i++)
    {
        cmd_length += (strlen(args[i]) + 2);
        if(cmd_length >= cmd_line_max) return -1;
        strcat(cmd_line, args[i]);
        strcat(cmd_line, " ");
    }
    
    return system(cmd_line);
    //return -1;
}

or do something like this instead

service aName /aPath/aScript.sh
oneshot