daemon(8)

NAME

daemon - run detached from the controlling terminal

SYNOPSIS

daemon [-cf] [-p pidfile] command arguments ...

DESCRIPTION

The daemon utility detaches itself from the controlling ter

minal and executes the program specified by its arguments.

The options are as follows:

-c Change the current working directory to the root

(``/'').

-f Redirect standard input, standard output and stan

dard error to

/dev/null.

-p file

Write the ID of the created process into the file

using
pidfile(3) functionality. Note, that the file will

be created
shortly before the process is actually executed, and

will remain
after the process exits (although it will be removed

if the execution fails).

EXIT STATUS

The daemon utility exits 1 if an error is returned by the

daemon(3)
library routine, 2 if the pidfile is requested, but cannot

be opened, 3
if process is already running (pidfile exists and is

locked), otherwise
0.

DIAGNOSTICS

If the command cannot be executed, an error message is dis

played on standard error unless the -f flag is specified.

SEE ALSO

daemon(3), exec(3), pidfile(3), termios(4), tty(4)

HISTORY

The daemon utility first appeared in FreeBSD 4.7.

BSD August 30, 2001

BSD