NetBSD/lib/libutil/pidfile.3
jmmv 255271589f Extend pidfile(3) to support creating pid files in arbitrary locations.
If the argument provided to pidfile(3) contains a '/', then the value is
considered to be an absolute/relative path and the pid file is created
in the given location.

Otherwise, pidfile(3) behaves as before and treats the provided value as
a basename to construct a pid file in /var/run/<basename>.pid.  This means
that to create a pid file named "foo.pid" in the current directory, one
must specify "./foo.pid".
2011-03-29 13:55:37 +00:00

106 lines
3.1 KiB
Groff

.\" $NetBSD: pidfile.3,v 1.13 2011/03/29 13:55:37 jmmv Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1999 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation
.\" by Jason R. Thorpe.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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.\" ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
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.Dd March 23, 2011
.Dt PIDFILE 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm pidfile
.Nd write a daemon pid file
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libutil
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In util.h
.Ft int
.Fn pidfile "const char *path"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Fn pidfile
creates a file containing the process ID of the caller program.
The pid file can be used as a quick reference if
the process needs to be sent a signal.
When the program exits, the pid file is removed automatically, unless
the program receives a fatal signal.
.Pp
If
.Ar path
is
.Dv NULL
or a plain basename (a name containing no directory components), the pid file
is created in the
.Pa /var/run
directory.
The file name has the form
.Pa /var/run/basename.pid .
The basename part is either the value of
.Ar path
if it was not
.Dv NULL ,
or the program name as returned by
.Xr getprogname 3
otherwise.
.Pp
If
.Ar path
is an absolute or relative path (i.e. it contains the
.Sq /
character),
the pid file is created in the provided location.
.Pp
Note that only the first invocation of
.Fn pidfile
causes a pid file to be written; subsequent invocations have no effect
unless a new
.Ar path
is supplied.
If called with a new
.Ar path ,
.Fn pidfile
will remove the old pid file and write the new one.
.Sh RETURN VALUES
.Fn pidfile
returns 0 on success and -1 on failure.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr atexit 3
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Fn pidfile
function call appeared in
.Nx 1.5 .
Support for creating pid files in any arbitrary path was added in
.Nx 6.0 .
.Sh BUGS
.Fn pidfile
uses
.Xr atexit 3
to ensure the pid file is unlinked at program exit.
However, programs that use the
.Xr _exit 2
function (for example, in signal handlers)
will not trigger this behaviour.