Daemon howto

On Unix/Linux a daemon is a program that runs in the background independent from the logged in user.

The way to achieve this is normally to directly fork after the execution and let the parent process exit. This results in the child process having lost its parent which leads to the init process automatically inheriting this process.

A simple way to do this in Eiffel is to use eposix. Simple inherit from POSXI_DAEMON and call detach.

Another thing is to implement signal handlers for several signals, this allows for example to correctly shut down a daemon.

class MY_DAEMON inherit POSIX_SIGNAL_HANDLER POSIX_CONSTANTS export {NONE} all end POSIX_DAEMON ARGUMENTS feature {NONE} -- Initialization make -- Create. do -- only if the -d argument is given, launch daemonized -- this is useful as debugging with the daemonized program does not work if argument_count = 1 and then argument (1).is_equal("-d") then detach else execute end end feature -- Status is_exit: BOOLEAN -- Should we exit? feature {NONE} -- Implementation execute is -- Execute as daemon. local l_signal_handler: POSIX_SIGNAL do -- setup the signal handler for the TERM signal and call signalled. create l_signal_handler.make (SIGTERM) l_signal_handler.set_handler (Current) l_signal_handler.apply -- an infinite loop from until is_exit loop -- do something useful end end feature {NONE} -- Callbacks signalled (signal_value: INTEGER) is -- We received a signal. do if signal_value = SIGTERM then is_exit := True end end