NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     daemon - run in the background

LIBRARY    [Toc]    [Back]

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     #include <stdlib.h>

     int
     daemon(int nochdir, int noclose);

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     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    [Toc]    [Back]

     On return 0 indicates success with -1 indicating error.

ERRORS    [Toc]    [Back]

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

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     fork(2), setsid(2)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The daemon() function first appeared in 4.4BSD.

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

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

BSD                            September 3, 1999                           BSD