In Linux, the daemon command is used to start a program as a daemon process, which is a background process that is detached from the terminal and runs independently of the user’s session. Daemon processes are typically used for long-running tasks or services that need to run continuously in the background.
For example, to run a command as a daemon, you could use the following command:
# daemon --name="name" command
This will start the command as a daemon process. The daemon command will fork the process and then exit, leaving the daemon process running in the background.
It is important to note that the daemon command is not a built-in shell command, but rather a separate utility that is typically installed as part of the daemon package. This package is usually available in the default repositories of most Linux distributions and can be installed using the package manager.
If you encounter the below error while running the command daemon:
daemon: command not found
you may try installing the below package as per your choice of distribution:
| Distribution | Command |
|---|---|
| Debian | apt-get install daemon |
| Ubuntu | apt-get install daemon |
| Kali Linux | apt-get install daemon |
| OS X | brew install daemon |
| Raspbian | apt-get install daemon |
daemon Command Examples
1. Run a command as a daemon:
# daemon --name="name" command
2. Run a command as a daemon which will restart if the command crashes:
# daemon --name="name" --respawn command
3. Run a command as a daemon which will restart if it crashes, with two attempts every 10 seconds:
# daemon --name="name" --respawn --attempts=2 --delay=10 command
4. Run a command as a daemon, writing logs to a specific file:
# daemon --name="name" --errlog=path/to/file.log command
5. Kill a daemon (SIGTERM):
# daemon --name="name" --stop
6. List daemons:
# daemon --list