Automate Life with Linux

I’ve been using Linux for the past five years, and during this time, I’ve learned a lot. Every distribution might operate similarly, but each has unique characteristics that make it special. Regardless of the distribution I’m using, one of my key practices is creating my own services and automating tasks.

Writing scripts and enabling them as services has streamlined my workflow and made my life easier. One of my favorite automations is file management.

File management can be tricky, so I’ve created a script to handle three main types of files: Git repositories, images, and zip files. This script automatically moves these files to designated locations—specifically, the Documents and Pictures folders.

Now, let’s break down the script line-by-line, then set it up to run on our system as a systemctl service.

Writing the Code

Let’s go over the key sections of our Bash script.

Setting Destination Folders

First, we define the destination folder paths for Git repositories and images. These paths will be used throughout the script to move files.

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# Set the destination folder paths
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gitDestination="$HOME/Documents/Testing-Repo"
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imageDestination="$HOME/Pictures/Images"

Functions for Moving Images and Git Repositories

Next, we create two functions to handle moving image directories and Git repositories. The moveImages() function moves images from a specified folder to the image destination folder, while the moveGitRepo() function moves Git repositories to the Git destination. These functions perform necessary checks before moving the files.

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# Function to move images to the image destination folder
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moveImages() {
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    # Code snippet for moving images
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}
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# Function to move Git repositories to the Git destination folder
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moveGitRepo() {
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    # Code snippet for moving Git repositories
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}

Checking and Moving Existing Files

The script begins by checking if the destination folders for Git repositories and images exist. If not, it creates them using mkdir -p. Then, it moves existing Git repositories (excluding those containing images) and image files from the Downloads folder to the appropriate destination folders.

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# Check if the Git destination folder exists; if not, create it
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if [ ! -d "$gitDestination" ]; then
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    mkdir -p "$gitDestination"
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    echo "✅ Created destination folder for Git repositories: $gitDestination"
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fi
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# Move existing Git repositories to the destination folder, excluding those with images
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find "$HOME/Downloads" -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "*.git" -exec sh -c '
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    repoDir=$(dirname "$0")
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    if ! find "$repoDir" -type f -exec file -N -i -- {} + | grep -qE "image/"; then
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        moveGitRepo "$repoDir" "$gitDestination"
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    fi
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' {} \;

Checking if the destination folder exists for images and creating it if it doesn’t:

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if [ ! -d "$imageDestination" ]; then
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    mkdir -p "$imageDestination"
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    echo "✅ Created destination folder for images: $imageDestination"
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fi
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moveImages "$HOME/Downloads" "$imageDestination"

Live Monitoring for New Files

The script then enters a live monitoring loop using inotifywait. It waits for new directories to be created in the Downloads folder and performs actions based on the type of the new directory. If it’s a Git repository without images, it waits for 3 minutes and then moves it to the Git destination folder. If it’s an image directory, it moves it to the image destination folder.

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# Start live monitoring of the Downloads folder for new directory creations using inotifywait
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inotifywait -m -e create -r --format "%w%f" -q "$HOME/Downloads" |
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while read -r directory; do
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    # Check if the newly created directory is a Git repository
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    if [ -d "$directory/.git" ]; then
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        # Check if the Git repository contains images
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        if ! find "$directory" -type f -exec file -N -i -- {} + | grep -qE "image/"; then
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            # Move the Git repository to the Git destination folder after 3 minutes
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            moveGitRepo "$directory" "$gitDestination" &
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        fi
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    elif file -N -i "$directory" | grep -qE 'image/'; then
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        # Check if the newly created directory is an image
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        # Move the image directory to the image destination folder
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        moveImages "$directory" "$imageDestination"
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    fi
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done

Running the Script as a System Process

To run the script as a background process whenever the system starts, we’ll create a systemd service. This enables the script to continuously monitor files and perform actions.

1. Create a service file for the script:

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   sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/file-management.service

1. Add the following content to the file:

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   [Unit]
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   Description=File Management Script
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   After=network.target
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   [Service]
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   ExecStart=/bin/bash /path/to/your/script.sh
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   Restart=always
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   [Install]
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   WantedBy=multi-user.target

Replace /path/to/your/script.sh with the actual path to your script.

1. Save the file and exit.
2. Reload systemd to read the new service:

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   sudo systemctl daemon-reload

1. Enable the service to start on boot:

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   sudo systemctl enable file-management.service

1. Start the service:

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   sudo systemctl start file-management.service

1. Verify that the service is running:

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   sudo systemctl status file-management.service

Your script is now running as a system process. It will start automatically on system boot and monitor files in the background.

Conclusion

With this introduction to systemd and systemctl services, you can see how easy it is to create services that automate routine tasks. This is just the beginning—you can create services to manage videos, images, Git repositories, system snapshots, and much more. So be creative, write some cool scripts, and share your work with others!

Until next time, keep coding, nerds!