An /etc/init.d script for dropbox on Debian.

etc-init.d-dropbox-debian

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# dropbox service

DROPBOX_USERS="" # space-separated usernames
DAEMON=.dropbox-dist/dropbox
NICE=19 # -20 - 19
IONICE_CLASS=3 # 0 - 3
IONICE_PRIOR=7 # 0 - 7
KERNEL=`uname -s`

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 $HOMEDIR/$DAEMON
    fi
  done
  while [ `pidof dropbox > /dev/null; echo $?` -ne 0 ]; do
    sleep 0.1
  done
  for pid in `pidof dropbox`; do
    if [ `which renice > /dev/null; echo $?` -eq 0 ]; then
      if [ x$KERNEL == xLinux ] || [ x$KERNEL == xDarwin ]; then
        renice -n $NICE $pid
      fi
    fi
    if [ `which ionice > /dev/null; echo $?` -eq 0 ]; then
      if [ x$KERNEL == xLinux ]; then
        ionice -c $IONICE_CLASS -n $IONICE_PRIOR -t -p $pid
      fi
    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 $HOMEDIR/$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