root@mountain-lion:/opt/smartfox# ls -lha
total 180K
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4.0K 2012-06-01 14:09 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4.0K 2012-06-01 09:41 ..
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4.0K 2009-05-17 21:57 lib
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 2012-06-01 09:41 logs -> /var/opt/smartfox/logs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1.4K 2012-06-01 14:28 run.sh
root@mountain-lion:/opt/smartfox# cat run.sh
#!/bin/bash
java -cp "./:./sfsExtensions/:lib/activation.jar:lib/commons-beanutils.jar:lib/commons-collections-3.2.jar:lib/commons-dbcp-1.2.1.jar:lib/commons-lang-2.3.jar:lib/commons-logging-1.1.jar:lib/commons-pool-1.2.jar:lib/concurrent.jar:lib/ezmorph-1.0.3.jar:lib/h2.jar:lib/js.jar:lib/json-lib-2.1-jdk15.jar:lib/json.jar:lib/jsr173_1.0_api.jar:lib/jysfs.jar:lib/jython.jar:lib/nanoxml-2.2.1.jar:lib/wrapper.jar:lib/xbean.jar:lib/javamail/imap.jar:lib/javamail/mailapi.jar:lib/javamail/pop3.jar:lib/javamail/smtp.jar:lib/jetty/jetty.jar:lib/jetty/jetty-util.jar:lib/jetty/jstl.jar:lib/jetty/multipartrequest.jar:lib/jetty/servlet-api.jar:lib/jetty/standard.jar:lib/jsp-2.1/commons-el-1.0.jar:lib/jsp-2.1/core-3.1.0.jar:lib/jsp-2.1/jsp-2.1.jar:lib/jsp-2.1/jsp-api-2.1.jar:lib/jsp-2.1/jstl.jar:lib/jsp-2.1/standard.jar:lib/lsc.jar:lib/commons-io-1.4.jar" \
it.gotoandplay.smartfoxserver.SmartFoxServer > logs/smartfox.out 2>&1 &
JAVAPID=$!
echo "Started Smartfox. JVM PID = $JAVAPID"
trap "echo Stopping Smartfox.; kill $JAVAPID" INT TERM
wait
echo "Smartfox stopped."
root@mountain-lion:/opt/smartfox# start-stop-daemon --start --make-pidfile --pidfile /var/opt/smartfox/smartfox.pid --exec ./run.sh
start-stop-daemon: unable to start ./run.sh (No such file or directory)
Why can't start-stop-daemon find the script?
Best Answer
I find that it's better to avoid relative paths in starup scripts and the like. If things are getting confused, it's always best to be as explicit as possible - then you're not left guessing "I wonder what directory the process executing this script thinks is current".
This also goes for anything being run by cron. The environment cron is running under is different to the environment you are running in as a regular user.