Within the CVS repository of minidlna, there’s an init script found within linux/ – which can be easily applied getting minidlna started at boot time.

# vim /etc/init.d/minidlna

The init script is modified regarding LSB headers required on Debian for automatic startup levels etc.

#!/bin/sh

# chkconfig: 345 99 10
# description: Startup/shutdown script for MiniDLNA daemon
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: minidlna
# Required-Start:
# Required-Stop:
# Default-Start:  3 4 5
# Default-Stop: 0 1 6
# Short-Description: start/stop MiniDLNA daemon
# Description: Startup/shutdown script for MiniDLNA daemon
### END INIT INFO
#
# $Id: minidlna.init.d.script,v 1.2 2009/07/02 00:33:15 jmaggard Exp $
# MiniUPnP project
# author: Thomas Bernard
# website: http://miniupnp.free.fr/ or http://miniupnp.tuxfamily.org/

MINIDLNA=/usr/sbin/minidlna
ARGS='-f /etc/minidlna.conf'

test -f $MINIDLNA || exit 0

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

case "$1" in
start)  log_daemon_msg "Starting minidlna" "minidlna"
        start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile /var/run/minidlna.pid --startas $MINIDLNA -- $ARGS $LSBNAMES
        log_end_msg $?
        ;;
stop)   log_daemon_msg "Stopping minidlna" "minidlna"
        start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --pidfile /var/run/minidlna.pid
        log_end_msg $?
        ;;
restart|reload|force-reload)
        log_daemon_msg "Restarting minidlna" "minidlna"
        start-stop-daemon --stop --retry 5 --quiet --pidfile /var/run/minidlna.pid
        start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile /var/run/minidlna.pid --startas $MINIDLNA -- $ARGS $LSBNAMES
        log_end_msg $?
        ;;
*)      log_action_msg "Usage: /etc/init.d/minidlna {start|stop|restart|reload|force-reload}"
        exit 2
        ;;
esac
exit 0

Make it executable and add to automatic startup (ignore the warning).

# chmod +x /etc/init.d/minidlna

# update-rc.d minidlna defaults

You can also start|stop|restart minidlna this way 🙂

# /etc/init.d/minidlna
Usage: /etc/init.d/minidlna {start|stop|restart|reload|force-reload}.