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.\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.sbin/daemon/daemon.8,v 1.9 2007/03/19 12:12:53 trhodes Exp $
.\"
.Dd March 19, 2007
.Dt DAEMON 8
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm daemon
.Nd run detached from the controlling terminal
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl cf
.Op Fl p Ar pidfile
.Op Fl u Ar user
.Ar command arguments ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility detaches itself from the controlling terminal and
executes the program specified by its arguments.
Privileges may be lowered to the specified user.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Fl c
Change the current working directory to the root
.Pq Dq Pa / .
.It Fl f
Redirect standard input, standard output and standard error to
.Pa /dev/null .
.It Fl p Ar file
Write the ID of the created process into the
.Ar file
using the
.Xr pidfile 3
functionality.
Note, that the file will be created shortly before the process is
actually executed, and will remain after the process exits (although
it will be removed if the execution fails).
.It Fl u Ar user
Run the program with the rights of user specified, requires privilege.
.El
.Sh EXIT STATUS
The
.Nm
utility exits 1 if an error is returned by the
.Xr daemon 3
library routine, 2 if the
.Ar pidfile
is requested, but cannot be opened, 3 if process is already running (pidfile
exists and is locked),
otherwise 0.
.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
If the command cannot be executed, an error message is displayed on
standard error unless the
.Fl f
flag is specified.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr setregid 2 ,
.Xr setreuid 2 ,
.Xr daemon 3 ,
.Xr exec 3 ,
.Xr pidfile 3 ,
.Xr termios 4 ,
.Xr tty 4
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
utility first appeared in
.Fx 4.7 .