I'm trying to launch redis-server as a user (called redis) via Upstart. My /etc/init/redis-server.conf looks like this:

description "redis server"

start on runlevel [23]
stop on shutdown

exec sudo -u redis /usr/local/bin/redis-server /var/lib/redis/redis.conf

Looks good, right? I start redis-server using

$start redis-server
redis-server start/running, process 16808
$redis-cli
Could not connect to Redis at 127.0.0.1:6379: Connection refused
$ps ax | grep ps 168
16810  tty1    R+     0:00 ps ax
16811  tty1    S+     0:00 grep 168

So redis-server definitely isn't running. Let's try executing the Upstart command by hand, shall we?

exec sudo -u redis /usr/local/bin/redis-server /var/lib/redis/redis.conf
[16852] 19 Jun 10:37:21 # Can't chdir to './': Permission denied
Connection to 10.19.2.94 closed.

And then I get logged off. I'm at a loss. Any ideas?