How to restart ES from a script?

cyperghost

@BuZz Wait I post output in a few minutes...

pi@retropie:~ $ ls /tmp
es-restart  omxplayerdbus.root  omxplayerdbus.root.pid
pi@retropie:~ $ ps -a
  PID TTY          TIME CMD
  862 tty1     00:00:00 bash
  867 tty1     00:00:00 bash
  868 tty1     00:00:00 emulationstatio
  874 tty1     00:00:00 emulationstatio
  877 tty1     00:00:13 emulationstatio
  990 pts/0    00:00:00 ps

The command pkill

pi@retropie:~ $ pkill -f -e "/emulationstation$"
emulationstatio killed (pid 868)
emulationstatio killed (pid 877)

check with ps -a

pi@retropie:~ $ ps -a
  PID TTY          TIME CMD
  862 tty1     00:00:00 bash
  874 tty1     00:00:00 emulationstatio
 1001 tty1     00:00:08 emulationstatio
 1071 pts/0    00:00:00 ps

worked now... sorry... but 2 PIDs alive
If PID 874 in my current setup will be killed than ES is wrecked.

Thank you

BuZz

@cyperghost use ps -fa as you can't tell what they are from that. probably parent bash scripts (which is correct - they shouldn't be killed).

TMNTturtlguy

@BuZz @cyperghost

touch /tmp/es-restart; killall -e "/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/emulationstation"

runs fine all 3 PIDs are up to date

When i use this in my script, it runs the first time. The second time i try to run it, the script crashes with error "cant remove /tmp/es-restart

cyperghost

@BuZz
Thank you I will remember that command!
Very usefull :)

cyperghost

@TMNTturtlguy I will check....
I tested all scripts 2 two 3 times... all runing fine

BuZz

@TMNTturtlguy said in How to restart ES from a script?:

@BuZz @cyperghost

touch /tmp/es-restart; killall -e "/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/emulationstation"

When i use this in my script, it runs the first time. The second time i try to run it, the script crashes with error "cant remove /tmp/es-restart

because custom retropie scripts are actually run as root - ill change that I think, but just make sure you create it owned by pi for now.

sudo -u pi touch /tmp/es-restart
pkill -f "/emulationstation$"

cyperghost

@BuZz Solid work!
Thank you

cyperghost

@BuZz What is your prefered method?
pkill or killall? I think pkill offers more room for changes.

BuZz

I have updated retropie-setup so user scripts will now be launched as a normal user without elevated permissions (can use sudo in a script if needed).

BuZz

@cyperghost pkill so it can kill emulationstation running from any path.

cyperghost

@BuZz
Ufff... that was hard stuff!

TMNTturtlguy

@cyperghost @BuZz i updated retropie-setup and now i can't run my script, and i also cannot do anything within the retropie setup script either. I enter restropie setup, it freezes up for a bit and then exits back to the retropie menu.

cyperghost

Wait a moment...

BuZz

@TMNTturtlguy did you reboot ? you may want to sudo rm /tmp/es-restart also.

BuZz

There is a problem after launching the first time. Will check.

cyperghost

@BuZz There seems to be a problem with the one lost PID!
I did not update but I'm facing the same problem!

cyperghost

No the first killall script runs in best condition!
All 3 PIDs are running there!

touch /tmp/es-restart; killall -e "/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/emulationstation"

and I can execute @TMNTturtlguy script like usual behavior.

BuZz

@cyperghost the pkill isn't working as it also kills a needed parent process as the pattern matches a bash line which I missed.

touch /tmp/es-restart
pkill -f "/opt/retropie/supplementary/.*/emulationstation$"

should sort it

TMNTturtlguy

@cyperghost @BuZz Ok, so I did the ps -a and killed the largest emulationstatio and i can at least navigate the menus again....so yes the pkill is causing the issue,

Next issue is after the setup script update my script gives an error saying that '/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg' is write protected and the script errors out.

BuZz

@TMNTturtlguy if your script wants to edit that file it will need to use sudo as user scripts are no longer run as root.