Upstart job does not trigger (Xubuntu 14.04)

Question

I'm in the process of learning how to use Upstart. I wrote a simple job as a test (file is /etc/init/uptest.conf), using a custom event to trigger it manually:

start on uptest
task
exec touch /tmp/UPTEST

This works fine on a server running Ubuntu 14.04.2, by calling

# initctl emit uptest

My problem is that the exact same job does not work on a Xubuntu 14.04 install. the Upstart version is 1.12.1 on both machines.

I have been unable to point out the cause so far:

• syntax of the conf file is ok, as shown by the init-checkconf command
• calling initctl start uptest displays: "initctl: Unknown job: uptest"
• indeed this job is not listed in initctl list
• I tried to reload (initctl reload-configuration) and reboot, without success
• I can't find any useful log in /var/log/syslog or /var/log/upstart

I'm running out of ideas... maybe someone here will have a clue ?

Answer 1

Perhaps the session init is being called to instead of the system init. Try it by unsetting the variable UPSTART_SESSION

env -u UPSTART_SESSION initctl list
env -u UPSTART_SESSION initctl start uptest

etc.