trunk/man/start-stop-daemon.8

.TH "BASELAYOUT" "13" "April 2007" "baselayout" "baselayout"
.SH NAME
start\-stop\-daemon \- start and stop system daemon programs
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B start-stop-daemon
.BR -S | --start
.IR options
.RB [ \-\- ]
.IR arguments
.HP
.B start-stop-daemon
.BR -K | --stop
.IR options
.HP
.B start-stop-daemon
.BR -s | --signal
.IR options
.HP
.B start-stop-daemon
.BR -H | --help
.HP
.B start-stop-daemon
.BR -V | --version
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B start\-stop\-daemon
is used to control the creation and termination of system-level processes.
Using the
.BR --exec ", " --pidfile ", " --user ", and " --name " options,"
.B start\-stop\-daemon
can be configured to find existing instances of a running process.

With
.BR --start ,
.B start\-stop\-daemon
checks for the existence of a specified process.
If such a process exists,
.B start\-stop\-daemon
does nothing, and exits with error status 1.
If such a process does not exist, it starts an
instance, using the executable specified by
.BR --exec . 
Any arguments given after
.BR --
on the command line are passed unmodified to the program being
started.
.B start\-stop\-daemon
pauses for a little bit then checks the daemon is still running as badly
written ones like to fork early and then bail on a error in their config.
As such it may be necessary to use the --name parameter if the daemon in
question is not a C program, ie a script. Once started, we store how we
are called in \fBrc\fR if called from an init script.

With 
.BR --stop ,
.B start\-stop\-daemon
also checks for the existence of a specified process.
If such a process exists,
.B start\-stop\-daemon
sends it the signal specified by
.BR --signal ,
and exits with error status 0.
If such a process does not exist, or there was an error stopping it
.B start\-stop\-daemon
exits with error status 1. If
.BR --test
is specified then we just send the signal and not the schedule. If
.BR --oknodo
is specified then we don't remove the daemon information from
.BR rc. If neither
.BR --test
or
.BR --okndo
are specified then we kill signalling and waiting according to our
schedule specified by
.BR --retry
until we timeout the process(es) exited. If we didn't timeout then
we remove our daemon information from rc.

With 
.BR --signal ,
.B start\-stop\-daemon
also checks for the existence of a specified process.
If such a process exists,
.B start\-stop\-daemon
sends it the signal specified and exits with error status 0.
If such a process does not exist, or there was an error stopping it
.B start\-stop\-daemon
exits with error status 1. No futher action is taken

.SH OPTIONS

.TP
\fB-x\fP|\fB--exec\fP \fIexecutable\fP
Check for processes that are instances of this executable.
.TP
\fB-p\fP|\fB--pidfile\fP \fIpid-file\fP
Check for processes whose process-id is specified in 
.I pid-file.
.TP
\fB-u\fP|\fB--user\fP \fIusername\fP|\fIuid\fP
Check for processes owned by the user specified by
.I username 
or
.I uid.
.TP
\fB-n\fP|\fB--name\fP \fIprocess-name\fP
Check for processes with the name
.I process-name
.TP
\fB-s\fP|\fB--signal\fP \fIsignal\fP
With
.BR --stop
, specifies the signal to send to processes being stopped (default SIGTERM).
.TP
\fB-R\fP|\fB--retry\fP \fItimeout\fP|\fIschedule\fP
With
.BR --stop ,
specifies that
.B start-stop-daemon
is to check whether the process(es)
do finish.  It will check repeatedly whether any matching processes
are running, until none are.  If the processes do not exit it will
then take further action as determined by the schedule.

If
.I timeout
is specified instead of
.I schedule
then the schedule
.IB signal / timeout
is used, where
.I signal
is the signal specified with
.BR --signal .

.I schedule
is a list of at least two items separated by slashes
.RB ( / );
each item may be
.BI - signal-number
or [\fB\-\fP]\fIsignal-name\fP,
which means to send that signal,
or
.IR timeout ,
which means to wait that many seconds for processes to
exit,
or
.BR forever ,
which means to repeat the rest of the schedule forever if
necessary.

If the end of the schedule is reached and
.BR forever
is not specified, then
.B start-stop-daemon
exits with error status 2.
If a schedule is specified, then any signal specified
with
.B --signal
is ignored.
.TP
.BR -t | --test
Print actions that would be taken and set appropriate return value,
but take no action.
.TP
.BR -o | --oknodo
Used for sending signals to a running daemon but not expecting it to stop.
In this version you can don't need --oknodo if you don't use --stop either.
.TP
.BR -q | --quiet
Do not print informational messages; only display error messages.
.TP
\fB-c\fP|\fB--chuid\fP \fIusername\fR|\fIuid\fP
Change to this username/uid before starting the process. You can also
specify a group by appending a
.BR : ,
then the group or gid in the same way
as you would for the `chown' command (\fIuser\fP\fB:\fP\fIgroup\fP).
When using this option
you must realize that the primary and supplemental groups are set as well,
even if the
.B --group
option is not specified.  The
.B --group
option is only for
groups that the user isn't normally a member of (like adding per/process
group membership for generic users like
.BR nobody ).
.TP
\fB-r\fP|\fB--chroot\fP \fIroot\fP
Chdir and chroot to
.I root
before starting the process. Please note that the pidfile is also written
after the chroot.
.TP
.BR -b | --background
Typically used with programs that don't detach on their own. This option
will force
.B start-stop-daemon
to fork before starting the process, and force it into the background.
.TP
\fB-1\fP|\fB--stdout\fP \fIlogfile\fP
Redirect the standard output of the process to \fIlogfile\fP when started with
\fB--background\fP. Must be an absolute pathname, but relative to the
\fIpath\fP optionally given with \fB--chroot\fP.
Hint: The \fIlogfile\fP can also be a named pipe.
.TP
\fB-2\fP|\fB--stderr\fP \fIlogfile\fP
The same thing as \fB--stdout\fP but with the standard error output.
.TP
.BR -N | --nicelevel
This alters the prority of the process before starting it. This can also be set
by the environment variable \fBSSD_NICELEVEL\fR.
.TP
.BR -m | --make-pidfile
Used when starting a program that does not create its own pid file. This
option will make
.B start-stop-daemon
create the file referenced with
.B --pidfile
and place the pid into it just before executing the process. Note, it will
not be removed when stopping the program.
.B NOTE:
This feature may not work in all cases. Most notably when the program
being executed forks from its main process. Because of this it is usually
only useful when combined with the
.B --background
option.
.TP
.BR -v | --verbose
Print verbose informational messages.
.TP
.BR -H | --help
Print help information; then exit.
.TP
.BR -V | --version
Print version information; then exit.
1	.TH "BASELAYOUT" "13" "April 2007" "baselayout" "baselayout"
2	.SH NAME
3	start\-stop\-daemon \- start and stop system daemon programs
4	.SH SYNOPSIS
5	.B start-stop-daemon
6	.BR -S \| --start
7	.IR options
8	.RB [ \-\- ]
9	.IR arguments
10	.HP
11	.B start-stop-daemon
12	.BR -K \| --stop
13	.IR options
14	.HP
15	.B start-stop-daemon
16	.BR -s \| --signal
17	.IR options
18	.HP
19	.B start-stop-daemon
20	.BR -H \| --help
21	.HP
22	.B start-stop-daemon
23	.BR -V \| --version
24	.SH DESCRIPTION
25	.B start\-stop\-daemon
26	is used to control the creation and termination of system-level processes.
27	Using the
28	.BR --exec ", " --pidfile ", " --user ", and " --name " options,"
29	.B start\-stop\-daemon
30	can be configured to find existing instances of a running process.
31
32	With
33	.BR --start ,
34	.B start\-stop\-daemon
35	checks for the existence of a specified process.
36	If such a process exists,
37	.B start\-stop\-daemon
38	does nothing, and exits with error status 1.
39	If such a process does not exist, it starts an
40	instance, using the executable specified by
41	.BR --exec .
42	Any arguments given after
43	.BR --
44	on the command line are passed unmodified to the program being
45	started.
46	.B start\-stop\-daemon
47	pauses for a little bit then checks the daemon is still running as badly
48	written ones like to fork early and then bail on a error in their config.
49	As such it may be necessary to use the --name parameter if the daemon in
50	question is not a C program, ie a script. Once started, we store how we
51	are called in \fBrc\fR if called from an init script.
52
53	With
54	.BR --stop ,
55	.B start\-stop\-daemon
56	also checks for the existence of a specified process.
57	If such a process exists,
58	.B start\-stop\-daemon
59	sends it the signal specified by
60	.BR --signal ,
61	and exits with error status 0.
62	If such a process does not exist, or there was an error stopping it
63	.B start\-stop\-daemon
64	exits with error status 1. If
65	.BR --test
66	is specified then we just send the signal and not the schedule. If
67	.BR --oknodo
68	is specified then we don't remove the daemon information from
69	.BR rc. If neither
70	.BR --test
71	or
72	.BR --okndo
73	are specified then we kill signalling and waiting according to our
74	schedule specified by
75	.BR --retry
76	until we timeout the process(es) exited. If we didn't timeout then
77	we remove our daemon information from rc.
78
79	With
80	.BR --signal ,
81	.B start\-stop\-daemon
82	also checks for the existence of a specified process.
83	If such a process exists,
84	.B start\-stop\-daemon
85	sends it the signal specified and exits with error status 0.
86	If such a process does not exist, or there was an error stopping it
87	.B start\-stop\-daemon
88	exits with error status 1. No futher action is taken
89
90	.SH OPTIONS
91
92	.TP
93	\fB-x\fP\|\fB--exec\fP \fIexecutable\fP
94	Check for processes that are instances of this executable.
95	.TP
96	\fB-p\fP\|\fB--pidfile\fP \fIpid-file\fP
97	Check for processes whose process-id is specified in
98	.I pid-file.
99	.TP
100	\fB-u\fP\|\fB--user\fP \fIusername\fP\|\fIuid\fP
101	Check for processes owned by the user specified by
102	.I username
103	or
104	.I uid.
105	.TP
106	\fB-n\fP\|\fB--name\fP \fIprocess-name\fP
107	Check for processes with the name
108	.I process-name
109	.TP
110	\fB-s\fP\|\fB--signal\fP \fIsignal\fP
111	With
112	.BR --stop
113	, specifies the signal to send to processes being stopped (default SIGTERM).
114	.TP
115	\fB-R\fP\|\fB--retry\fP \fItimeout\fP\|\fIschedule\fP
116	With
117	.BR --stop ,
118	specifies that
119	.B start-stop-daemon
120	is to check whether the process(es)
121	do finish. It will check repeatedly whether any matching processes
122	are running, until none are. If the processes do not exit it will
123	then take further action as determined by the schedule.
124
125	If
126	.I timeout
127	is specified instead of
128	.I schedule
129	then the schedule
130	.IB signal / timeout
131	is used, where
132	.I signal
133	is the signal specified with
134	.BR --signal .
135
136	.I schedule
137	is a list of at least two items separated by slashes
138	.RB ( / );
139	each item may be
140	.BI - signal-number
141	or [\fB\-\fP]\fIsignal-name\fP,
142	which means to send that signal,
143	or
144	.IR timeout ,
145	which means to wait that many seconds for processes to
146	exit,
147	or
148	.BR forever ,
149	which means to repeat the rest of the schedule forever if
150	necessary.
151
152	If the end of the schedule is reached and
153	.BR forever
154	is not specified, then
155	.B start-stop-daemon
156	exits with error status 2.
157	If a schedule is specified, then any signal specified
158	with
159	.B --signal
160	is ignored.
161	.TP
162	.BR -t \| --test
163	Print actions that would be taken and set appropriate return value,
164	but take no action.
165	.TP
166	.BR -o \| --oknodo
167	Used for sending signals to a running daemon but not expecting it to stop.
168	In this version you can don't need --oknodo if you don't use --stop either.
169	.TP
170	.BR -q \| --quiet
171	Do not print informational messages; only display error messages.
172	.TP
173	\fB-c\fP\|\fB--chuid\fP \fIusername\fR\|\fIuid\fP
174	Change to this username/uid before starting the process. You can also
175	specify a group by appending a
176	.BR : ,
177	then the group or gid in the same way
178	as you would for the `chown' command (\fIuser\fP\fB:\fP\fIgroup\fP).
179	When using this option
180	you must realize that the primary and supplemental groups are set as well,
181	even if the
182	.B --group
183	option is not specified. The
184	.B --group
185	option is only for
186	groups that the user isn't normally a member of (like adding per/process
187	group membership for generic users like
188	.BR nobody ).
189	.TP
190	\fB-r\fP\|\fB--chroot\fP \fIroot\fP
191	Chdir and chroot to
192	.I root
193	before starting the process. Please note that the pidfile is also written
194	after the chroot.
195	.TP
196	.BR -b \| --background
197	Typically used with programs that don't detach on their own. This option
198	will force
199	.B start-stop-daemon
200	to fork before starting the process, and force it into the background.
201	.TP
202	\fB-1\fP\|\fB--stdout\fP \fIlogfile\fP
203	Redirect the standard output of the process to \fIlogfile\fP when started with
204	\fB--background\fP. Must be an absolute pathname, but relative to the
205	\fIpath\fP optionally given with \fB--chroot\fP.
206	Hint: The \fIlogfile\fP can also be a named pipe.
207	.TP
208	\fB-2\fP\|\fB--stderr\fP \fIlogfile\fP
209	The same thing as \fB--stdout\fP but with the standard error output.
210	.TP
211	.BR -N \| --nicelevel
212	This alters the prority of the process before starting it. This can also be set
213	by the environment variable \fBSSD_NICELEVEL\fR.
214	.TP
215	.BR -m \| --make-pidfile
216	Used when starting a program that does not create its own pid file. This
217	option will make
218	.B start-stop-daemon
219	create the file referenced with
220	.B --pidfile
221	and place the pid into it just before executing the process. Note, it will
222	not be removed when stopping the program.
223	.B NOTE:
224	This feature may not work in all cases. Most notably when the program
225	being executed forks from its main process. Because of this it is usually
226	only useful when combined with the
227	.B --background
228	option.
229	.TP
230	.BR -v \| --verbose
231	Print verbose informational messages.
232	.TP
233	.BR -H \| --help
234	Print help information; then exit.
235	.TP
236	.BR -V \| --version
237	Print version information; then exit.