cinit - Daemons backgrounding
=============================
Nico Schottelius <nico-cinit==@==schottelius.org>
0.1, for cinit 0.3, Initial versinon from 2005-06-12


This document describes the backgrounding process and how to disable it.



Definition
-----------
A daemon is a program which runs in the background.
Running in the background means you cannot access the process
directly (like you can press a key in a shell).


Daemons and cinit
------------------
cinit normally watches system services and restarts them
(`respawn` flag in the configuration). If the process goes to background,
cinit cannot control it directly anymore.

List of daemons and non-forking parameters
-------------------------------------------

The following daemons / servers are known to avoid backgrounding easily:

- acpid [x86 power management]: -f (undocumentated but works)
- apache [webserver]:           -DFOREGROUND
- asterisk [pbx]:               -f
- bind [dns server/caching]:    -f
- cardmgr [pcmcia/cardbus]:     -f
- cron (vixie) [schedular]:     -f
- cupsd [printer server]:       -f or -F
- dhclient [dhcp client]:       -d
- dhcp3 (isc) [dhcp server]:    -f
- distccd [compile server]:     normal behaviour
- fam [file alteration monitor]:-f
- fcron [schedular]:            -f
- frox [ftp proxy]:             "NoDetach" in config
- gdm [display manager]:        -nodaemon
- hybrid [irc server]:          -foreground
- icecast2 [sound streamer]:    normal behaviour
- mini-lpd [printer server]:    normal behaviour
- metalog [log server]:         normal behaviour
- monotone [vcs]:               normal behaviour
- mpd [music server]:           --no-daemon
- nessusd ["security server"]:  normal behaviour
- ntpd [time server]:           -n
- nylon [socks proxy]:          -f (prints output to terminal)
- oidentd [identd server]:      -i
- oops [http proxy]:            normal behaviour
- openssh [ssh server]:         -D
- openvpn [vpn server]:         normal behaviour
- pbbuttonsd [power management]:normal behaviour
- portmap  [portmapper]:        -f
- proftpd [ftp server]:         -n
- qmail [mta]:                  normal behaviour
- rsync ["file server"]:        --no-detach
- silcd ["secure chat server"]: -F, --foreground
- slapd [ldap]:                 -d
- snmpd [snmp daemon]:          -f
- stunnel [ssl wrapper]:        "foreground = yes" in config
- svnserve [vcs]:               --foreground
- syslogd [log server]:         -n
- syslog-ng [log server]:       -F
- tcpserver [super server]:     normal behaviour
- udhcpc [dhcp client]:         normal behaviour
- vsftpd [ftp server]:          normal behaviour (or: config: background=no)
- xinetd [super server]:        -dontfork


Problematic daemons
-------------------
Those are the daemons that do not offer the possibility (as of release 0.2):

- atd      (no switch, no configuraton option)
- inetd    (some variants)
- nscd     (no switch, no configuraton option)