checks if a program is running, if not, it tries to start it. # after 3 tries, if the program hasn't started we print out the error # and return.

mpd_startup

#!/bin/sh

# checks if a program is running, if not, it tries to start it.
# after 3 tries, if the program hasn't started we print out the error
# and return.

errors=""

# uses pgrep to find the running process. 
check_prog ()
{
    if [ $count -eq 3 ]
    then 
        printf "\t *** issue starting:'$1',\t '$errors' \n"
        return
    else
        count=$(expr $count + 1)
    fi
    if [ $(pgrep -x "$1") ]
    then 
        printf "\t * %-20s (running: %10s\n" "$1" "pid: $(pgrep -x "$1"))"
    else
        if [ $count -eq 1 ]
        then
            printf "\t * $1 not running, starting up\n"
        fi
        errors=$($1 2>&1)
        check_prog $1
    fi
}

# uses grep to find the running process.
# this allows one to give a fuzzy match for the running program
#
#     in the case of beet bpd, it's grep shows up as 
#     22695 pts/9    Sl     0:02 /usr/bin/python /usr/local/bin/beet bpd
#     doing pgrep 'beet bpd' won't find the process due to the /usr/bin/python junk.
# this method also support command line arguemnts which check_prog does not.
check_prog_grep ()
{
    if [ $count -eq 3 ]
    then 
        printf "\t *** issue starting:'$1',\t '$errors' \n"
        return
    else
        count=$(expr $count + 1)
    fi
 
#    if [ $(pgrep -x "$1") ]
    
    running="$(ps ax | grep "$*" | grep -v "grep $*")"
    if [ "$running" ]
    then 
        PID=$(echo "$running" | cut -d " " -f1)
        printf "\t * %-20s (running: %10s\n" "$*" "pid: $PID)"
    else
        if [ $count -eq 1 ]
        then
            printf "\t * $* not running, starting up\n"
        fi
        ($* > /dev/null &)
        check_prog_grep $*
    fi
}

count=0
check_prog_grep beet bpd

count=0
check_prog mpdscribble