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START-STOP-DAEMON(8)

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NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

       start-stop-daemon - start and stop system daemon programs

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

       start-stop-daemon -S|--start options [--] arguments

       start-stop-daemon -K|--stop options

       start-stop-daemon -H|--help

       start-stop-daemon -V|--version

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

       start-stop-daemon  is  used  to control the creation and termination of
       system-level processes.	 Using	the  --exec,  --pidfile,  --user,  and
       --name  options,  start-stop-daemon  can be configured to find existing
       instances of a running process.

       With --start, start-stop-daemon checks for the existence of a specified
       process.  If such a process exists, start-stop-daemon does nothing, and
       exits with error status 1 (0 if --oknodo  is  specified).   If  such  a
       process	does  not  exist, it starts an instance, using either the executable
 specified by --exec, (or, if  specified,  by  --startas).   Any
       arguments  given  after -- on the command line are passed unmodified to
       the program being started.  If --retry is  specified  then  start-stop-
       daemon will check that the process(es) have terminated.

       With --stop, start-stop-daemon also checks for the existence of a specified
 process.  If such a process exists,  start-stop-daemon  sends  it
       the  signal  specified  by --signal, and exits with error status 0.  If
       such a process does not exist, start-stop-daemon exits with error  status
 1 (0 if --oknodo is specified).

OPTIONS    [Toc]    [Back]

       -x|--exec executable
	      Check  for  processes  that  are	instances  of  this executable
	      (according to /proc/pid/exe ).

       -p|--pidfile pid-file
	      Check for processes whose process-id is specified in pid-file.

       -u|--user username|uid
	      Check for processes owned by the user specified by  username  or
	      uid.

       -n|--name process-name
	      Check  for  processes  with  the name process-name (according to
	      /proc/pid/stat).

       -s|--signal signal
	      With --stop, specifies the signal to  send  to  processes  being
	      stopped (default 15).

       -R|--retry timeout|schedule
	      With  --stop,  specifies	that  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  timeout  is  specified instead of schedule then the schedule
	      signal/timeout/KILL/timeout is used, where signal is the	signal
	      specified with --signal.

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

	      If  the end of the schedule is reached and forever is not specified,
 then start-stop-daemon exits with error status  2.	 If  a
	      schedule	is  specified, then any signal specified with --signal
	      is ignored.

       -a|--startas pathname
	      With --start, start the process specified by pathname.   If  not
	      specified, defaults to the argument given to --exec.

       -t|--test
	      Print  actions  that  would  be taken and set appropriate return
	      value, but take no action.

       -o|--oknodo
	      Return exit status 0 instead of 1 if no actions are  (would  be)
	      taken.

       -q|--quiet
	      Do  not  print  informational  messages; only display error messages.


       -c|--chuid username|uid
	      Change to this username/uid before starting the process. You can
	      also  specify a group by appending a :, then the group or gid in
	      the same way as you would for the `chown' command  (user:group).
	      When  using  this  option  you must realize that the primary and
	      supplemental groups are set as well, even if the --group	option
	      is  not  specified.   The --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 nobody).

       -r|--chroot root
	      Chdir  and  chroot  to  root before starting the process. Please
	      note that the pidfile is also written after the chroot.

       -b|--background
	      Typically used with programs that don't  detach  on  their  own.
	      This option will force start-stop-daemon to fork before starting
	      the process, and force it into the background.  WARNING:	start-
	      stop-daemon cannot check the exit status if the process fails to
	      execute for any reason. This is a last resort, and is only meant
	      for  programs that either make no sense forking on their own, or
	      where it's not feasible to add  the  code  for  it  to  do  this
	      itself.

       -N|--nicelevel
	      This alters the prority of the process before starting it.

       -m|--make-pidfile
	      Used  when  starting  a program that does not create its own pid
	      file. This option will make start-stop-daemon  create  the  file
	      referenced  with --pidfile and place the pid into it just before
	      executing the process. Note, it will not be removed  when  stopping
 the program.  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 --background option.

       -v|--verbose
	      Print verbose informational messages.

       -H|--help
	      Print help information; then exit.

       -V|--version
	      Print version information; then exit.

AUTHORS    [Toc]    [Back]

       Marek Michalkiewicz <[email protected]> based on a previous
 version by Ian Jackson <[email protected]>.

       Manual page by Klee Dienes <[email protected]>, partially reformatted by Ian
       Jackson.



Debian Project			15th March 1997 	  START-STOP-DAEMON(8)
[ Back ]
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