How to start a script file on boot?

On latest Ubuntu, you should do it like this, create /etc/init/bukkit.conf (whatever .conf),

description     "Some java server"
author          "Moi <[email protected]>"

start on runlevel [2345]   # change start / stop level if needed
stop on runlevel [016]

pre-start script
   echo "script is abort to start"
end script

exec /path/to/script param1 param2

post-start script
   echo "script is started" # if you needed any post-start hack
end script

More information here.

I run a minecraft server from a debian terminal, and this is probably the wrong way to do it, but it works. First, sudo apt-get install screen, then save the following script as /etc/init.d/minecraft:

#!/bin/bash
case "$1" in
  start)
    screen -S minecraft /home/mc/server/craftbukkit.sh
    echo "Server started on screen minecraft"
    ;;
  stop)
    screen -X -S minecraft kill
    echo "Server shutting down"
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/minecraft {start|stop}"
    exit 1
    ;;
esac

exit 0

Now, run the following commands as root:

update-rc.d -f minecraft defaults

This will make the minecraft server run in the background when the system boots. To view the console, run screen -x minecraft in a terminal. To quit the console, press Ctrl+A and then D.