Daemonize a script

Sometimes it is required to start script as daemon (for example Django site in development mode), and I want to provide guidance how to do it in Fedora 9.

First, it is required to write auxiliary bash-script for running necessary script (let's call it 'site.sh'):

#!/bin/sh
cd /path/to/site/
nohup python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8080 --noreload > site.log &
echo "${!}" > /var/run/site.pid

In this script I changed directory to site location, and ran it via 'nohup' command. Also I took PID of created process via '${!}' to manage it later.

This script should be run under root privileges and should be checked via 'ps aux | grep python' for equality of PID of running process and stored in /var/run/site.pid.

If everything is fine, let's move forward and create init-script (let's call it 'site'):

#! /bin/sh
# Startup script for site
#
# chkconfig: 2 96 04
# description: site service

# Source function library.
. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions

prog="site"
DAEMON=/path/to/site.sh
pidfile=/var/run/site.pid

[ -f $DAEMON ] || exit 0

start() {
   echo -n $"Starting $prog: "
   daemon $DAEMON
   RETVAL=$?
   echo
   return $RETVAL
}

stop() {
   if test "x`cat $pidfile`" != x; then
       echo -n $"Stopping $prog: "
       killproc $prog
       echo
   fi
   RETVAL=$?
   if [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ]; then
       rm -f $pidfile
   fi
   return $RETVAL
}

case "$1" in
   start)
       start
       ;;
   stop)
       stop
       ;;
   status)
       status corpsite
       ;;
   restart)
       stop
       start
       ;;
   condrestart)
       if test "x`cat $pifile`" != x; then
           stop
           start
       fi
       ;;
   *)
       echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|condrestart|status}"
       exit 1
       ;;
esac

exit $RETVAL

This script should be stored in /etc/init.d. Now try to run it using '/sbin/service site start' and try other commands. Please notice these few issues:

• 'prog' variable is used for information messages and for killing the process. Killing will be worked via PID (because we can't use script name - it will be 'python' and probably you could have other running python scripts) and PID will be gotten from /var/run/$prog.pid. So the name of pidfile and 'prog' should be the same.
• 'DAEMON' variable is a path for script above. It should be changed to accommodate the location of the script.

So, the last step is automatically loading/unloading script during startup/shutdown the OS. This is pretty easy - I have already prepared all information for 'chkconfig' in the init-script (see corresponded remarks in a header). Only enter command '/sbin/chkconfig --add site' and that's all - the script will be loaded/unloaded automatically after next startup.

DOWNLOAD - daemon.tar.gz (1.03KB)