Ubuntu run python script on system startup that is using Firefox

Question

I wrote python script that uses subprocess.pOpen() module to run and manipulate with 2 GUI programs: Firefox and VLC player. I am using Ubuntu 14.04 LTS operating system in Desktop mode.

My problem is when I try to run that python script when system starts, script is running but Firefox or VLC don't start.

So far, I tried to make shell script to run my python script and then with crontab with @reboot /home/user/startup.sh to execute my python script. I set all permissions for every script that is using. I gave my user root permisions so everything is OK with that.

I also tried to run my script putting command "sudo python /path/to/my/script.py" in /etc/rc.local file but that also is not helping.

I googled and found out people using .desktop files that they put in ~/.config/autostart/ directory but that also failed. Example of what I wrote:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Exec="sudo python /home/user/path_to_my_script/my_script.py"
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
Name=screensplayer
Comment=screensplayer

And I saved this as program.desktop in ~/.config/autostart/ directory but it does not work. I am sure there is a way to fix this but don't know how. Any help will be appreciated!

Answer 1

Found solution to my problem. When you are running commands with pOpen in python like this:

FNULL = open(os.devnull, 'w')
_FIREFOX_START = ["sudo", "firefox", "test.com/index.html"]
subprocess.Popen(self._FIREFOX_START, stdout=self.FNULL, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)

it won't run apps because of " sudo " word, when I removed it, it worked.

Also run gnome-session-properties in terminal and add new startup application, be aware that you have to execute python script without sudo, like this:

python /home/user/path_to_script/script.py

Also, I granted my user root privileges so kepp that in mind.