daemonize.c

/* adopted from here http://www.itp.uzh.ch/~dpotter/howto/daemonize and it is in the public domain */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <pwd.h>
#include <signal.h>
#include <string.h>
#include "log.h"

#define EXIT_SUCCESS 0
#define EXIT_FAILURE 1

static void child_handler(int signum)
{
    switch(signum) {
    case SIGALRM: exit(EXIT_FAILURE); break;
    case SIGUSR1: exit(EXIT_SUCCESS); break;
    case SIGCHLD: exit(EXIT_FAILURE); break;
    }
}


void daemonize(const char *lockfile,const char* daemonuser)
{
    pid_t pid, sid, parent;
    int lfp = -1;

    if ( !daemonuser ) {
        log_error("empty daemon user");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* already a daemon */
    if ( getppid() == 1 ) return;

    /* Create the lock file as the current user */
    if ( lockfile && lockfile[0] ) {
        lfp = open(lockfile,O_RDWR|O_CREAT,0640);
        if ( lfp < 0 ) {
            log_error("unable to acquire lock file %s, code=%d (%s)", lockfile, errno, strerror(errno) );
            exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
        }
    }

    /* Drop user if there is one, and we were run as root */
    if ( getuid() == 0 || geteuid() == 0 ) {
        struct passwd *pw = getpwnam(daemonuser);
        if ( pw ) {
            log_debug("setting user to %s",daemonuser );
            setuid( pw->pw_uid );
        }
    }

    /* Trap signals that we expect to recieve */
    signal(SIGCHLD,child_handler);
    signal(SIGUSR1,child_handler);
    signal(SIGALRM,child_handler);

    /* Fork off the parent process */
    pid = fork();
    if (pid < 0) {
        log_error("unable to fork daemon, code=%d (%s)", errno, strerror(errno) );
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
    /* If we got a good PID, then we can exit the parent process. */
    if (pid > 0) {

        /* Wait for confirmation from the child via SIGTERM or SIGCHLD, or
           for two seconds to elapse (SIGALRM).  pause() should not return. */
        alarm(2);
        pause();

        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* At this point we are executing as the child process */
    parent = getppid();

    /* Cancel certain signals */
    signal(SIGCHLD,SIG_DFL); /* A child process dies */
    signal(SIGTSTP,SIG_IGN); /* Various TTY signals */
    signal(SIGTTOU,SIG_IGN);
    signal(SIGTTIN,SIG_IGN);
    signal(SIGHUP, SIG_IGN); /* Ignore hangup signal */
    signal(SIGTERM,SIG_DFL); /* Die on SIGTERM */

    /* Change the file mode mask */
    umask(0);

    /* Create a new SID for the child process */
    sid = setsid();
    if (sid < 0) {
        log_error("unable to create a new session, code %d (%s)", errno, strerror(errno) );
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* Change the current working directory.  This prevents the current
       directory from being locked; hence not being able to remove it. */
    if ((chdir("/")) < 0) {
        log_error("unable to change directory to %s, code %d (%s)", "/", errno, strerror(errno) );
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* Redirect standard files to /dev/null */
    freopen( "/dev/null", "r", stdin);
    freopen( "/dev/null", "w", stdout);
    freopen( "/dev/null", "w", stderr);

    /* Tell the parent process that we are A-okay */
    kill( parent, SIGUSR1 );
}