I have created a python app with a GUI made with Tkinter on a Raspberry Pi 3. I am currently trying to set up the Pi so that it runs my program on boot. I don't need anything like the desktop or such to load unless my program crashes.
I have tried looking for ways to accomplish this such as this post from the Raspberry Pi Stack Exchange but haven't been able to get anything to work. In fact when I tried out the suggestions in that link I hit a snag that made me have to reinstall Raspbian. I am wondering if anyone over here knows how to get this working.
You may not need the desktop, but tkinter does. So you can't disable the graphical boot.
First, make your python file executable with this command:
chmod +x my_program.py
Then add a shebang to the top of the file. For python2, the first line of the file must be:
#!/usr/bin/env python
Now you can launch your python program like any other program, including adding it to autostart. When I did this I just run the command
nano /home/pi/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart
to start the nano text editor and add the line
@/home/pi/folder/my_program.py
to the end.