/etc/init.d script for dropbox on Ubuntu

dropbox

#!/bin/sh
#
# Copied from http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=38529#post-414344
# Modified by jay@gooby.org (@jaygooby on Twitter)

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: dropbox
# Required-Start: $local_fs $remote_fs $network $syslog $named
# Required-Stop: $local_fs $remote_fs $network $syslog $named
# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop: 0 1 6
# X-Interactive: false
# Short-Description: dropbox service
### END INIT INFO

# dropbox service
DROPBOX_USERS="deploy"

DAEMON=.dropbox-dist/dropbox

start() {
  echo "Starting dropbox..."
  for dbuser in $DROPBOX_USERS; do
    HOMEDIR=$(getent passwd $dbuser | cut -d: -f6)
    if [ -x $HOMEDIR/$DAEMON ]; then
      HOME="$HOMEDIR" start-stop-daemon -b -o -c $dbuser -S -u $dbuser -x $DAEMON -p "$HOMEDIR/.dropbox/dropbox.pid"
    fi  
  done
}

stop() {
  echo "Stopping dropbox..."
    for dbuser in $DROPBOX_USERS; do
      HOMEDIR=$(getent passwd $dbuser | cut -d: -f6)
      if [ -x $HOMEDIR/$DAEMON ]; then
        start-stop-daemon -o -c $dbuser -K -u $dbuser -x $DAEMON
      fi  
  done
}

status() {
  for dbuser in $DROPBOX_USERS; do
    dbpid=$(pgrep -u $dbuser dropbox)
    if [ -z $dbpid ] ; then
      echo "dropboxd for USER $dbuser: not running."
    else
      echo "dropboxd for USER $dbuser: running (pid $dbpid)"
    fi  
 done
}

case "$1" in

start)
start
;;

stop)
stop
;;

restart|reload|force-reload)

stop
start
;;

status)
status
;;

*)
echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/dropbox {start|stop|reload|force-reload|restart|status}"
exit 1

esac

exit 0

A few minor updates for Dropbox v2.10.3:

#!/bin/sh
#
# Copied from http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=38529#post-414344
# Modified by jay@gooby.org (@jaygooby on Twitter)

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: dropbox
# Required-Start: $local_fs $remote_fs $network $syslog $named
# Required-Stop: $local_fs $remote_fs $network $syslog $named
# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop: 0 1 6
# X-Interactive: false
# Short-Description: dropbox service
### END INIT INFO

# dropbox service
DROPBOX_USERS="dropboxunixuser"

start() {
  echo "Starting dropbox..."
  for dbuser in $DROPBOX_USERS; do
    HOMEDIR=$(getent passwd $dbuser | cut -d: -f6)

    DAEMON=$(find $HOMEDIR/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.* -name dropboxd)

    if [ -x $DAEMON ]; then
      HOME="$HOMEDIR" start-stop-daemon -b -o -c $dbuser -S -u $dbuser -x $DAEMON -p "$HOMEDIR/.dropbox/dropbox.pid"
    fi
  done
}

stop() {
  echo "Stopping dropbox..."
    for dbuser in $DROPBOX_USERS; do
      HOMEDIR=$(getent passwd $dbuser | cut -d: -f6)

      DAEMON=$(find $HOMEDIR/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.* -name dropbox)

      if [ -x $DAEMON ]; then
        start-stop-daemon -o -c $dbuser -K -u $dbuser -x $DAEMON
      fi
  done
}

status() {
  for dbuser in $DROPBOX_USERS; do
    dbpid=$(pgrep -u $dbuser dropbox)
    if [ -z $dbpid ] ; then
      echo "dropboxd for USER $dbuser: not running."
    else
      echo "dropboxd for USER $dbuser: running (pid $dbpid)"
    fi
 done
}

case "$1" in

start)
start
;;

stop)
stop
;;

restart|reload|force-reload)

stop
start
;;

status)
status
;;

*)
echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/dropbox {start|stop|reload|force-reload|restart|status}"
exit 1

esac

exit 0

A. I had to change line 17 to:

  DROPBOX_USERS="[my username]""

B. "dropbox status" returns an error:

  /etc/init.d/dropbox: 48: [: 3261: unexpected operator
  dropboxd for USER erelsgl: running (pid 3261
  3477)

I had to change line 47 to:

  dbpid=$(pgrep -u $dbuser -f "dropbox-lnx")

to make it work.

thanks @erelsgl!