The Dude/Dude as a Linux Service

Author: Ezequiel Larrarte

Introduction

This guide will describe how to setup up Dude as a Linux Service. That means Dude will automatically start up during boot like any other allowed service in your system does.

Install Required Software

• Wine (Windows Emulator)

We are going to use Wine to run Dude windows executable (.exe) under Linux.

Debian 6

It is already included in the official Debian repositories:

# apt-get install wine

CentOS 5

You will need to add <RepoForge repository>:

# wget http://pkgs.repoforge.org/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el5.rf.i386.rpm
# rpm -i rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el5.rf.i386.rpm
# yum update

Then install it just as any other package:

# yum install wine

• Xvfb (X virtual framebuffer)

As you can imagine, we are going to need a GUI to install Dude. However, we usually don 't have one in server environments, unless you have a desktop manager installed like Gnome, KDE, etc. I sometimes install fluxbox (a very small desktop environment) for this purposes. Well, this program will allow us to create a virtual (fake) X Server used to install Dude.

Debian 6

# apt-get install xvfb

CentOS 5

# yum install xorg-x11-server-Xvfb

• X11VNC (X to VNC)

This will allow us to manage the virtual framebuffer display created with Xfvb from our desktop computer using VNC protocol.

Debian 6

# apt-get install x11vnc

CentOS 5

# yum install x11vnc

Install Dude Server

• Creating a Virtual Display with Xvfb

# Xvfb :1 -screen 0 800x600x16 &

• Enabling VNC access to the Virtual Display

# x11vnc -display :1  -bg -forever

• Starting Dude installation

export DISPLAY=:1
export WINEPREFIX=/srv/dude
wine dude-installer-xxx.exe

• Connect to the server using your favourite VNC client ...

... and finish the installation process.

Setting up the Dude Service

• Debian 6

Create the file /etc/init.d/dude:

#!/bin/bash

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: dude
# Required-Start: $remote_fs $syslog
# Required-Stop: $remote_fs $syslog
# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:
# Short-Description: Dude Server
### END INIT INFO

action=${1}

# ----------------------------------------------
# User Options
# ----------------------------------------------
xvfb_pidfile='/var/run/dude-xvfb.pid'
wine_pidfile='/var/run/dude-wine.pid'
virtual_display=':1'
dude_path='/srv/dude'
# ----------------------------------------------

export DISPLAY=$virtual_display
export WINEPREFIX=$dude_path

start ()
{
	echo -n 'Starting Dude virtual display: '
	Xvfb $virtual_display &> /dev/null &
	echo $! > $xvfb_pidfile
	echo 'ok'
	echo -n 'Starting Dude Server: '
	sleep 5
	wine 'c:\program files\dude\dude.exe' --server &> /dev/null &
	echo $! > $wine_pidfile
	echo 'ok'
}

stop ()
{
	echo -n 'Stopping Dude Server: '
	kill $(cat $wine_pidfile)
	rm -f $wine_pidfile
	sleep 5
	echo 'ok'
	echo -n 'Stopping Dude virtual display: '
	kill $(cat $xvfb_pidfile)
	rm -f $xvfb_pidfile
	echo 'ok'
}

case "$action" in
	start)
		start
	;;

	stop)
		stop
	;;

	*)
		echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop}"
	;;
esac

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Enable the service:

innserv dude

• CentOS 5

Create the file /etc/init.d/dude:

#!/bin/bash

# chkconfig: - 50 20
# description: Dude Server

# processname: dude

action=${1}

. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions

# ----------------------------------------------
# User Options
# ----------------------------------------------
xvfb_pidfile='/var/run/dude-xvfb.pid'
wine_pidfile='/var/run/dude-wine.pid'
virtual_display=':1'
dude_path='/srv/dude'
# ----------------------------------------------

export DISPLAY=$virtual_display
export WINEPREFIX=$dude_path

start ()
{
	echo -n 'Starting Dude virtual display:'
	Xvfb $virtual_display &> /dev/null &
	echo $! > $xvfb_pidfile
	success
	echo
	echo -n 'Starting Dude Server:'
	sleep 5
	wine 'c:\program files\dude\dude.exe' --server &> /dev/null &
	echo $! > $wine_pidfile
	success
	touch /var/lock/subsys/dude
	echo
}

stop ()
{
	echo -n 'Stopping Dude Server:'
	kill $(cat $wine_pidfile)
	rm -f $wine_pidfile
	sleep 5
	success
	echo
	echo -n 'Stopping Dude virtual display:'
	kill $(cat $xvfb_pidfile)
	rm -f $xvfb_pidfile
	success
	rm -f /var/lock/subsys/dude
	echo
}

case "$action" in
	start)
		start
	;;

	stop)
		stop
	;;

	*)
		echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop}"
	;;
esac

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Enable the service:

# chkconfig --add dude
# chkconfig dude on