POSIX solution of a dual-role daemon, i.e. a single application that can act as daemon and as a client communicating with that daemon.

singleton.c

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stddef.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <signal.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <sys/un.h>

#define SOCKET_NAME "/tmp/exampled"

static int socket_fd = -1;
static bool isdaemon = false;
static bool run = true;

/* returns
 *   -1 on errors
 *    0 on successful server bindings
 *   1 on successful client connects
 */
int singleton_connect(const char *name) {
    int len, tmpd;
    struct sockaddr_un addr = {0};

    if ((tmpd = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_DGRAM, 0)) < 0) {
        printf("Could not create socket: '%s'.\n", strerror(errno));
        return -1;
    }

    /* fill in socket address structure */
    addr.sun_family = AF_UNIX;
    strcpy(addr.sun_path, name);
    len = offsetof(struct sockaddr_un, sun_path) + strlen(name);

    int ret;
    unsigned int retries = 1;
    do {
        /* bind the name to the descriptor */
        ret = bind(tmpd, (struct sockaddr *)&addr, len);
        /* if this succeeds there was no daemon before */
        if (ret == 0) {
            socket_fd = tmpd;
            isdaemon = true;
            return 0;
        } else {
            if (errno == EADDRINUSE) {
                ret = connect(tmpd, (struct sockaddr *) &addr, sizeof(struct sockaddr_un));
                if (ret != 0) {
                    if (errno == ECONNREFUSED) {
                        printf("Could not connect to socket - assuming daemon died.\n");
                        unlink(name);
                        continue;
                    }
                    printf("Could not connect to socket: '%s'.\n", strerror(errno));
                    continue;
                }
                printf("Daemon is already running.\n");
                socket_fd = tmpd;
                return 1;
            }
            printf("Could not bind to socket: '%s'.\n", strerror(errno));
            continue;
        }
    } while (retries-- > 0);

    printf("Could neither connect to an existing daemon nor become one.\n");
    close(tmpd);
    return -1;
}

static void cleanup(void) {
    if (socket_fd >= 0) {
        if (isdaemon) {
            if (unlink(SOCKET_NAME) < 0)
                printf("Could not remove FIFO.\n");
        } else
            close(socket_fd);
    }
}

static void handler(int sig) {
    run = false;
}

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
    switch (singleton_connect(SOCKET_NAME)) {
        case 0: { /* Daemon */

            struct sigaction sa;
            sa.sa_handler = &handler;
            sigemptyset(&sa.sa_mask);
            if (sigaction(SIGINT, &sa, NULL) != 0 || sigaction(SIGQUIT, &sa, NULL) != 0 || sigaction(SIGTERM, &sa, NULL) != 0) {
                printf("Could not set up signal handlers!\n");
                cleanup();
                return EXIT_FAILURE;
            }

            struct msghdr msg = {0};
            struct iovec iovec;
            int client_arg;
            iovec.iov_base = &client_arg;
            iovec.iov_len = sizeof(client_arg);
            msg.msg_iov = &iovec;
            msg.msg_iovlen = 1;

            while (run) {
                int ret = recvmsg(socket_fd, &msg, MSG_DONTWAIT);
                if (ret != sizeof(client_arg)) {
                    if (errno != EAGAIN && errno != EWOULDBLOCK) {
                        printf("Error while accessing socket: %s\n", strerror(errno));
                        exit(1);
                    }
                    printf("No further client_args in socket.\n");
                } else {
                    printf("received client_arg=%d\n", client_arg);
                }

                /* do daemon stuff */
                sleep(1);
            }
            printf("Dropped out of daemon loop. Shutting down.\n");
            cleanup();
            return EXIT_FAILURE;
        }
        case 1: { /* Client */
            if (argc < 2) {
                printf("Usage: %s <int>\n", argv[0]);
                return EXIT_FAILURE;
            }
            struct iovec iovec;
            struct msghdr msg = {0};
            int client_arg = atoi(argv[1]);
            iovec.iov_base = &client_arg;
            iovec.iov_len = sizeof(client_arg);
            msg.msg_iov = &iovec;
            msg.msg_iovlen = 1;
            int ret = sendmsg(socket_fd, &msg, 0);
            if (ret != sizeof(client_arg)) {
                if (ret < 0)
                    printf("Could not send device address to daemon: '%s'!\n", strerror(errno));
                else
                    printf("Could not send device address to daemon completely!\n");
                cleanup();
                return EXIT_FAILURE;
            }
            printf("Sent client_arg (%d) to daemon.\n", client_arg);
            break;
        }
        default:
            cleanup();
            return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }

    cleanup();
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}