DAEMON(3)                 OpenBSD Programmer's Manual                DAEMON(3)

NAME
     daemon - run in the background



SYNOPSIS
     #include <stdlib.h>

     int
     daemon(int nochdir, int noclose);

DESCRIPTION
     The daemon() function is for programs wishing to detach themselves from
     the controlling terminal and run in the background as system daemons.

     Unless the argument nochdir is non-zero, daemon() changes the current
     working directory to the root (/).

     Unless the argument noclose is non-zero, daemon() will redirect standard
     input, standard output and standard error to /dev/null.

RETURN VALUES
     Upon success, daemon() returns 0; otherwise -1 is returned.

ERRORS
     The function daemon() may fail and set errno for any of the errors speci-
     fied for the library functions fork(2) and setsid(2).

SEE ALSO
     fork(2),  setsid(2)

HISTORY
     The daemon() function first appeared in 4.4BSD.

OpenBSD 2.6                      June 9, 1993                                1