Source: http://www.jejik.com/articles/2007/02/a_simple_unix_linux_daemon_in_python/
by Sander Marechal
I've written a simple Python class for creating daemons on unix/linux systems. It was pieced together for various other examples, mostly corrections to various Python Cookbook articles and a couple of examples posted to the Python mailing lists. It has support for a pidfile to keep track of the process. I hope it's useful to someone.
Below is the Daemon class. To use it, simply subclass it and implement the run() method.
Update 2009-05-31: An anonymous contributor has written a version of the Daemon class suitable for Python 3.x. Download the Python 3.x version here. The code below is for Python 2.x
#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys, os, time, atexit
from signal import SIGTERM
class Daemon:
"""
A generic daemon class.
Usage: subclass the Daemon class and override the run() method
"""
def __init__(self, pidfile, stdin='/dev/null', stdout='/dev/null', stderr='/dev/null'):
self.stdin = stdin
self.stdout = stdout
self.stderr = stderr
self.pidfile = pidfile
def daemonize(self):
"""
do the UNIX double-fork magic, see Stevens' "Advanced
Programming in the UNIX Environment" for details (ISBN 0201563177)
http://www.erlenstar.demon.co.uk/unix/faq_2.html#SEC16
"""
try:
pid = os.fork()
if pid > 0:
# exit first parent
sys.exit(0)
except OSError, e:
sys.stderr.write("fork #1 failed: %d (%s)\n" % (e.errno, e.strerror))
sys.exit(1)
# decouple from parent environment
os.chdir("/")
os.setsid()
os.umask(0)
# do second fork
try:
pid = os.fork()
if pid > 0:
# exit from second parent
sys.exit(0)
except OSError, e:
sys.stderr.write("fork #2 failed: %d (%s)\n" % (e.errno, e.strerror))
sys.exit(1)
# redirect standard file descriptors
sys.stdout.flush()
sys.stderr.flush()
si = file(self.stdin, 'r')
so = file(self.stdout, 'a+')
se = file(self.stderr, 'a+', 0)
os.dup2(si.fileno(), sys.stdin.fileno())
os.dup2(so.fileno(), sys.stdout.fileno())
os.dup2(se.fileno(), sys.stderr.fileno())
# write pidfile
atexit.register(self.delpid)
pid = str(os.getpid())
file(self.pidfile,'w+').write("%s\n" % pid)
def delpid(self):
os.remove(self.pidfile)
def start(self):
"""
Start the daemon
"""
# Check for a pidfile to see if the daemon already runs
try:
pf = file(self.pidfile,'r')
pid = int(pf.read().strip())
pf.close()
except IOError:
pid = None
if pid:
message = "pidfile %s already exist. Daemon already running?\n"
sys.stderr.write(message % self.pidfile)
sys.exit(1)
# Start the daemon
self.daemonize()
self.run()
def stop(self):
"""
Stop the daemon
"""
# Get the pid from the pidfile
try:
pf = file(self.pidfile,'r')
pid = int(pf.read().strip())
pf.close()
except IOError:
pid = None
if not pid:
message = "pidfile %s does not exist. Daemon not running?\n"
sys.stderr.write(message % self.pidfile)
return # not an error in a restart
# Try killing the daemon process
try:
while 1:
os.kill(pid, SIGTERM)
time.sleep(0.1)
except OSError, err:
err = str(err)
if err.find("No such process") > 0:
if os.path.exists(self.pidfile):
os.remove(self.pidfile)
else:
print str(err)
sys.exit(1)
def restart(self):
"""
Restart the daemon
"""
self.stop()
self.start()
def run(self):
"""
You should override this method when you subclass Daemon. It will be called after the process has been
daemonized by start() or restart().
"""And here is an example implementation. It implements the daemon as well as it's controlling client. Simply invoke this script with start, stop or restart as it's first argument. Download this file.
#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys, time
from daemon import Daemon
class MyDaemon(Daemon):
def run(self):
while True:
time.sleep(1)
if __name__ == "__main__":
daemon = MyDaemon('/tmp/daemon-example.pid')
if len(sys.argv) == 2:
if 'start' == sys.argv[1]:
daemon.start()
elif 'stop' == sys.argv[1]:
daemon.stop()
elif 'restart' == sys.argv[1]:
daemon.restart()
else:
print "Unknown command"
sys.exit(2)
sys.exit(0)
else:
print "usage: %s start|stop|restart" % sys.argv[0]
sys.exit(2)That's it! I hope this is of some use to someone. Happy coding!
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Posted on 2007-02-02@09:09