Simple-Linux-MC-Start-Script

This is a simple shell/bash based Linux start script. This was made for my own use but I've uploaded it for anyone else to use as well. It includes:

• A Start script (Both for server jars and other start scripts)
• A Backup Script
• A Restore Script

Disclaimer

I am not that experienced with bash/shell. I know enough to make it do what I want it to do but that's about it. If it breaks or you want to change some lines to cut down on the line count or make it more efficient, feel free.

Dependencies

Bash

• All of these scripts start with #!/bin/bash and run using bash and is required for them to work out of the box. Feel free to change them to /bin/sh if you want or to whatever else you may use. It shouldn't be hard to change this.

Java

• This is pretty obvious as you'll need it for Minecraft as well but my script also directly accesses your java installation. Make sure you have it installed!

Screen

• These scripts make heavy use of screens. This is to allow everything to be SSH friendly and allow you to easily pop in and out of the consoles/scripts without having to worry about them closing out and canceling. Most distros should allow you to easily install screen with your package manager. Eg: sudo apt install screen or sudo dnf install screen.

Zip

• Pretty much every distro comes with zip, but if yours doesn't, it is required for the backup and restore scripts.

Configuration

The Start.sh and StartForScripts.sh scripts need to be configured before use. All of the configurable aspects can be found at the top of the file.

AUTO_RESTART

This will determine if the start script will attempt to restart the minecraft server after it stops. Eg.

• AUTO_RESTART="true"
• AUTO_RESTART="false"

NAME

This will be the alphanumeric name of the screen. This is different from the ID. It can be used to search and connect to the screen. Eg.

• NAME="My-Vanilla-World"
• NAME="All-The-Fabric"

Above is an example of what you can expect to see in your screen listing if you set it to NAME="All-The-Fabric

JAR

This will be the name of the server jar itself. Do Include the .jar file extention here. Eg.

• `JAR="server.jar"
• JAR="forge-1.12.2-14.23.5.2854-universal.jar"

JAVA

This is the full path to your java installation. This can be found by running sudo alternatives --config java. This will spit back a list of currently installed java versions like below.

There is a catch however... If you simply extracted java into your own directory instead of installing it with a package manager, you will need to instead but that path. Eg.

• JAVA="/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-17.0.4.1.1-1.fc36.x86_64/bin/java"
• JAVA="/CustomDir/java-1.8.0-openjdk-amd64/bin/java"

MEM

This is the section to configure your RAM allocation. Depending on your use case, this number can change drastically. I wouldn't recommend setting this below 1.5G or 1536M. Mods or plugins will require this number to rise proportionally to the amount of plugins or mods. Eg.

• MEM="1.5G" // 1.5 Gigabytes of RAM
• MEM="3G" // 3 Gigabytes of RAM
• MEM="6144M" // 6144 Megabytes of RAM (6 Gigabytes)

ARGS

This section is the java arguments section. This can be left as is or it can be blank. If you have args that you want to use you can delete everything in this space and put your own. The default arguments that are pre-loaded into this variable are Aikar's args and are regarded as some of the best java arguments for server optimization at this time. I won't provide details on how to configure good args here as I don't really know how to make optimized java arguments. If you're loading a modpack, there is a chance that the modpack authors will provide to you a set of arguments. If they do, I would recommend using them. Especially if it's a very large and well know modpack such as a FeedTheBeast or AllTheFabric/Mods pack. If you have any issues with these args, you may simply leave the quotes empty. Eg.

• ARGS=""

TERMCMD

This is for the desired terminal command. This will open the terminal GUI into the the newly created screen upon server launch. This can be commented out if you have a different terminal, you may change this to match it. If you don't want a terminal to open at all, just change it to be empty. Eg.

• TERMCMD="konsole -e" // Uses the KDE terminal window.
• TERMCMD="" // Does not attempt to open a terminal window.

Usage

All you do is drop the files into the servers root folder. There are two files that start the server, Start.sh and StartForScripts.sh. Only one is needed. The purpose of Start.sh is to directly launch your Minecraft server with all of the configurations you want, in a screen. The purpose of StartForScripts.sh is to allow the use of premade start scripts but still launch them in a screen.

After you drop the files into your servers root directory, open the start script in your favorite text editor and fill in the fields near the top of the file. There will be a line that tells you where to stop. (See the 'Configuration' section above).

After running this scripts you can close out your terminal window or log out of SSH and they should continue to run on your machine. To get back into them (attach), simply open your terminal again either through the terminal GUI or any other means and run screen -rS NAME. In the event someone is attached to them or you want to allow multiple people to attach to them, replace r with x. Please keep in mind the it is CASE-SENSITIVE. If you cannot remember the name you configured for your screen, run screen -ls to view a list of all screens that are currently running. This works for both the server start script and the backup/restore scripts. To close a screen you can either attach to the screen and type exit or you can run screen -S NAME -X exit. Both will terminate the screen and stop any running process that is taking place on that screen.

Upon doing your first backup it will make a backup folder in your servers root folder and move SubProcessOfRestore.sh into it. These subprocesses can be ran on their own but they are meant to be ran by the Backup.sh file. The Backup.sh file is responsible for managing the backups and restores and also runs them through screens for conveinience. Running a backup or restore should be easy as it will guide you through the process in the terminal. Zipping and Unzipping are done in verbose mode so you can watch it happen instead of wondering if it has frozen or not.

That's all! Hope you enjoy it!