In this article, we will look at how to run a bash script only on the first user login to Linux (or only on the first boot).
On Linux, you can run scripts at user login via these files:
~/.bash_profile~/.bash_login~/.profile/etc/profile.d
If you want to run the bash script for a specific user only, you need to specify the bash script files in their profile (~/.profile). If you want to run the script for all users, you must place it in the /etc/profile.d directory.
Here is an example bash script that creates a .logon_script_done file in the user’s profile when executed. The next time the script is run, it checks if this file exists, and if it does, the bash script code stops running.
#!/bin/bash
if [ -e $HOME/.logon_script_done ]
then
echo "No actions to do"
else
echo "First run of the script. Performing some actions" >> $HOME/run-once.txt
touch $HOME/.logon_script_done
fi
Save the code to the file user_provision.sh and allow the file to be run:
$ chmod +x user_provision.shNow you need to add a path to the script at the end of the .profile file:
. ${HOME}/user_provision.sh
Log out (exit) and log in again. A run-once.txt file will be created in the user profile.
The code from the bash script will not run the next time the user logs in.