↖️ Show all posts

Setup a Sinatra App on your Raspberry Pi and autostart the app using asdf and cron

This isn’t a full tutorial-style write up. Please, consult google for help with any of the following steps.

  1. Grab a fresh copy of Raspbian Lite and dd it on your SD Card
sudo dd bs=1m if=path/to/raspbian.img of=/dev/rdiskX

  1. Once the copying is finished add a file named ssh (no ending) to the root directory of the created sd card. Here, see 3rd.

  2. Now add all the glory goodness a webmachine could dream of ;-)

sudo apt-get install -y build-essential autoconf libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev libwxgtk2.8-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libpng3 libssh-dev unixodbc-dev libpq-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libreadline-dev gcc automake make libssl-dev libncurses-dev libyaml-dev libxslt-dev libffi-dev libtool git zlib1g-dev libbz2-dev libsqlite3-dev wget curl llvm xz-utils tk-dev m4
  1. Install asdf with plugins
git clone https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf.git ~/.asdf --branch v0.3.0
echo -e '\n. $HOME/.asdf/asdf.sh' >> ~/.bashrc
echo -e '\n. $HOME/.asdf/completions/asdf.bash' >> ~/.bashrc

asdf plugin-add ruby https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf-ruby.git

asdf plugin-add postgres https://github.com/smashedtoatoms/asdf-postgres.git

asdf plugin-add nodejs https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf-nodejs.git
bash ~/.asdf/plugins/nodejs/bin/import-release-team-keyring
  1. install ruby, postgres and node to get rails ready to roll

prepare yourself for some loooong running jobs…

-> grind coffee, filter water, brew coffee, enjoy your coffee - but keep that ssh session open!

# choose your versions
asdf install ruby 2.3.4
asdf install postgres 9.6.1
asdf install node 7.9

# set them up
asdf global ruby 2.3.4
asdf global postgres 9.6.1
asdf global node 7.9
  1. Setup the pg gem with this command (vary Versions if necessary):
gem install pg -v '0.20.0' -- --with-pg-config=/home/pi/.asdf/installs/postgres/9.6.1/bin/pg_config

and start the server in a new ssh session with

pg_ctl start
  1. git clone Sinatras Skeleton and run the basic setup (bundle and rake tasks)
# in /home/pi
mkdir www
cd www
git clone https://github.com/simonneutert/sinatras-skeleton
  1. setup a bash startup script and add a cronjob

add this skript named start_sinatra.sh in /home/pi/www/sinatras-skeleton:

#!/bin/bash
HOME=/home/pi
LOGNAME=pi
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
source $HOME/.profile
cd /home/pi/www/sinatras-skeleton
$HOME/.asdf/shims/pg_ctl start
. $HOME/.asdf/asdf.sh
thin start

then chmod +x start_sinatra.sh

  1. start Postgres and Sinatra at reboot of your Raspberry Pi with a cron job:
crontab -e

add this - do not forget to add an empty line at the bottom.

SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

@reboot /bin/bash /home/pi/www/sinatras-skeleton/start_sinatra.sh &
  1. Reboot your pi and visit the app from your workstation’s browser: http://raspberrypi:3000

Test on a RPi3 running 2017-04-10-raspbian-jessie-lite. I used the ethernet port, because the built in Wifi didn’t respond reliably.

⬅️ Read previous Read next ➡️