Installer script to setup phantomjs 1.9.7, it will remove any previous setup. Contains also the init script to manage phantomjs as a system service and the default configuration file. Tested on Ubuntu 12.04.

phantomjs

#! /bin/sh
# Init. script for phantomjs, based on Ubuntu 12.04 skeleton.
# Author: Anthony Lapenna <lapenna.anthony@gmail.com>

PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
DESC="Phantomjs service"
NAME=phantomjs
DAEMON=/usr/bin/$NAME
PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid
SCRIPTNAME=/etc/init.d/$NAME

# Exit if the package is not installed
[ -x "$DAEMON" ] || exit 0

# Load the VERBOSE setting and other rcS variables
. /lib/init/vars.sh

# Define LSB log_* functions.
# Depend on lsb-base (>= 3.2-14) to ensure that this file is present
# and status_of_proc is working.
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

# Overridable options section
WEBDRIVER_PORT=8190
DEBUG=false
LOG_FILE=/var/log/phantomjs.log

# Read configuration variable file if it is present
[ -r /etc/default/$NAME ] && . /etc/default/$NAME

DAEMON_ARGS="--webdriver=$WEBDRIVER_PORT --debug=$DEBUG"

#
# Function that starts the daemon/service
#
do_start()
{
 # Return
 # 0 if daemon has been started
 # 1 if daemon was already running
 # 2 if daemon could not be started
 start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON --test > /dev/null \
 || return 1
start-stop-daemon --start --background --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec /bin/bash -- -c "$DAEMON $DAEMON_ARGS > $LOG_FILE 2>&1" \
 || return 2
 # Add code here, if necessary, that waits for the process to be ready
 # to handle requests from services started subsequently which depend
 # on this one. As a last resort, sleep for some time.
}

#
# Function that stops the daemon/service
#
do_stop()
{
 # Return
 # 0 if daemon has been stopped
 # 1 if daemon was already stopped
 # 2 if daemon could not be stopped
 # other if a failure occurred
 start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=TERM/30/KILL/5 --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
 RETVAL="$?"
 [ "$RETVAL" = 2 ] && return 2
 # Wait for children to finish too if this is a daemon that forks
 # and if the daemon is only ever run from this initscript.
 # If the above conditions are not satisfied then add some other code
 # that waits for the process to drop all resources that could be
 # needed by services started subsequently. A last resort is to
 # sleep for some time.
 start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --retry=0/30/KILL/5 --exec $DAEMON
 [ "$?" = 2 ] && return 2
 # Many daemons don't delete their pidfiles when they exit.
 rm -f $PIDFILE
 return "$RETVAL"
}

#
# Function that sends a SIGHUP to the daemon/service
#
do_reload() {
 #
 # If the daemon can reload its configuration without
 # restarting (for example, when it is sent a SIGHUP),
 # then implement that here.
 #
 start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
 return 0
}

case "$1" in
 start)
 [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME"
 do_start
 case "$?" in
 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
 esac
 ;;
 stop)
 [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME"
 do_stop
 case "$?" in
 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
 esac
 ;;
 status)
 status_of_proc "$DAEMON" "$NAME" && exit 0 || exit $?
 ;;
 #reload|force-reload)
 #
 # If do_reload() is not implemented then leave this commented out
 # and leave 'force-reload' as an alias for 'restart'.
 #
 #log_daemon_msg "Reloading $DESC" "$NAME"
 #do_reload
 #log_end_msg $?
 #;;
 restart|force-reload)
 #
 # If the "reload" option is implemented then remove the
 # 'force-reload' alias
 #
 log_daemon_msg "Restarting $DESC" "$NAME"
 do_stop
 case "$?" in
 0|1)
 do_start
 case "$?" in
 0) log_end_msg 0 ;;
 1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running
 *) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start
 esac
 ;;
 *)
 # Failed to stop
 log_end_msg 1
 ;;
 esac
 ;;
 *)
 echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|status|restart|force-reload}" >&2
 exit 3
 ;;
esac

:

phantomjs_intaller.sh

#!/bin/bash

sudo apt-get remove phantomjs
sudo unlink /usr/local/bin/phantomjs
sudo unlink /usr/local/share/phantomjs
sudo unlink /usr/bin/phantomjs

cd /usr/local/share

sudo wget https://bitbucket.org/ariya/phantomjs/downloads/phantomjs-1.9.7-linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
sudo tar xjf phantomjs-1.9.7-linux-x86_64.tar.bz2

sudo ln -s /usr/local/share/phantomjs-1.9.7-linux-x86_64/bin/phantomjs /usr/local/share/phantomjs
sudo ln -s /usr/local/share/phantomjs-1.9.7-linux-x86_64/bin/phantomjs /usr/local/bin/phantomjs
sudo ln -s /usr/local/share/phantomjs-1.9.7-linux-x86_64/bin/phantomjs /usr/bin/phantomjs

exit 0

That trick will not work

--exec /bin/bash -- -c "..."

You need to use

 --startas /bin/bash -- -c "exec ..."

as described somethere on StackOverflow.