daemon(3) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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DAEMON(3)                 NetBSD Programmer's Manual                 DAEMON(3)


NAME

     daemon - run in the background


LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)


SYNOPSIS

     #include <stdlib.h>

     int
     daemon(int nochdir, int noclose);


DESCRIPTION

     The daemon() function is for programs wishing to detach themselves from
     the controlling terminal and run in the background as system daemons.

     Unless the argument nochdir is non-zero, daemon() changes the current
     working directory to the root (``/'').

     Unless the argument noclose is non-zero, daemon() will redirect standard
     input, standard output and standard error to ``/dev/null''.


RETURN VALUES

     On return 0 indicates success with -1 indicating error.


ERRORS

     The function daemon() may fail and set errno for any of the errors speci-
     fied for the library functions fork(2) and setsid(2).


SEE ALSO

     fork(2), setsid(2)


HISTORY

     The daemon() function first appeared in 4.4BSD.


BUGS

     daemon() uses fork() as part of its tty detachment mechanism. Consequent-
     ly the process id changes when daemon() is invoked. Processes employing
     daemon() can not be reliably waited upon until daemon() has been invoked.

NetBSD 1.5.1                   September 3, 1999                             1