DAEMON(3)		   Linux Programmers Manual		    DAEMON(3)



NAME
       daemon - run in the background

SYNOPSIS
       #include 

       int daemon(int nochdir, int noclose);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       daemon(): _BSD_SOURCE || (_XOPEN_SOURCE && _XOPEN_SOURCE < 500)

DESCRIPTION
       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 stan
       dard input, standard output and standard error to /dev/null.

RETURN VALUE
       (This function forks, and if the fork(2)  succeeds,  the  parent  calls
       _exit(2),  so that further errors are seen by the child only.)  On suc
       cess zero will be returned.  If an error occurs,  daemon()  returns  -1
       and  sets  the global variable errno to any of the errors specified for
       the fork(2) and setsid(2).

CONFORMING TO
       Not in POSIX.1-2001.  A similar function appears on the BSDs.  The dae
       mon() function first appeared in 4.4BSD.

NOTES
       The  glibc  implementation can also return -1 when /dev/null exists but
       is not a character device with the expected major  and  minor  numbers.
       In this case errno need not be set.

SEE ALSO
       fork(2), setsid(2)

COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 3.05 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
       description of the project, and information about reporting  bugs,  can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



GNU				  2007-07-26			     DAEMON(3)