[solved]Shell switch timeout

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Hello,
i want to use a shell switch for starting a python program.
The starting of the program is working but after a short time i get a timeout because pimatic do not recognize the current state.
Then pimatic switches to off.
For the getStateCommand i use the following small bash script, where i search for the process

#!/bin/bash
if [ $(ps -C Luefter_pilight_start -o pid=) ]; then echo on; else echo off; fi

And the configuration of the switch

{
  "onCommand": "/home/pi/Luefter_pilight_start.py &",
  "offCommand": "/home/pi/Luefter_pilight_stop.sh",
  "id": "lufter",
  "name": "Lüfter",
  "class": "ShellSwitch",
  "getStateCommand": "/home/pi/Luefter_state.sh"
}

I got no output (error, warning,de.) at the message section of pimatic.

Has someone a idea how i can fix this?

we were talking about this issue on github. sorry that there has been no information in here.
need to push it a bit is there anybody with an idea?

@soulrebel can you pls provide some more information about your devices (type, model, what you are doing with these) and maybe upload the other scripts as well (if to long, maybe use pastebin.org)

you say after a short time it does not work anymore, what is the definition of “short time” ? 5 minutes, 5 hours …

pimatic/pimatic#1043

@soulrebell The problem is that the on, off, and getState commands are expected to terminate! Sending a process in the background does not give the expected result here as the pimatic will still wait for the executed process to terminate. Generally, it would be possible to implement a different behavior, i.e. by using child_process.spawn instead of child_process.exec, however, I think the ShellSwitch has been designed this way for good reasons.

A work-around for your setting is to write another wrapper script which will daemonize the start command. The following works for me:

Luefter_pilight_start_wrapper.sh

 #!/bin/bash
nohup /home/pi/Luefter_pilight_start.py 0<&- &>/dev/null &

The “onCommand” is as follows:

   "onCommand": "/home/pi/Luefter_pilight_start_wrapper.sh"

I also had some problems with the “ps” command sequence you are using as part of getState command script. Please find below the getState and stop scripts which I have written for my test setup:

Luefter_state.sh

#!/bin/bash
if [ "$(ps -ef | grep Luefter_pilight_start  | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}')" != "" ]; then echo on; else echo off; fi

Luefter_pilight_stop.sh

#!/bin/bash
pid=$(ps -ef | grep Luefter_pilight_start  | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}')
if [ "pid" != "" ]; then echo $pid | xargs kill -9; fi

Super cool!!
Thank you very much!!
It works like a charm.

@soulrebell You’re welcome! It’s great it’s working for you know