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