xref: /freebsd/lib/libutil/pidfile.3 (revision 4a25aa061a2afec2af21caa4f2187d8544b2ea18)

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.Dd October 16, 2011
.Dt PIDFILE 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm pidfile_open ,
.Nm pidfile_write ,
.Nm pidfile_close ,
.Nm pidfile_remove
.Nd "library for PID files handling"
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libutil
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In sys/param.h
.In libutil.h
.Ft "struct pidfh *"
.Fn pidfile_open "const char *path" "mode_t mode" "pid_t *pidptr"
.Ft int
.Fn pidfile_write "struct pidfh *pfh"
.Ft int
.Fn pidfile_close "struct pidfh *pfh"
.Ft int
.Fn pidfile_remove "struct pidfh *pfh"
.Ft int
.Fn pidfile_fileno "struct pidfh *pfh"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm pidfile
family of functions allows daemons to handle PID files.
It uses
.Xr flopen 3
to lock a pidfile and detect already running daemons.
.Pp
The
.Fn pidfile_open
function opens (or creates) a file specified by the
.Fa path
argument and locks it.
If
.Fa pidptr
argument is not
.Dv NULL
and file can not be locked, the function will use it to store a PID of an
already running daemon or
.Li -1
in case daemon did not write its PID yet.
The function does not write process' PID into the file here, so it can be
used before
.Fn fork Ns ing
and exit with a proper error message when needed.
If the
.Fa path
argument is
.Dv NULL ,
.Pa /var/run/ Ns Ao Va progname Ac Ns Pa .pid
file will be used.
The
.Fn pidfile_open
function sets the FD_CLOEXEC close-on-exec flag on the open file descriptor.
.Pp
The
.Fn pidfile_write
function writes process' PID into a previously opened file.
.Pp
The
.Fn pidfile_close
function closes a pidfile.
It should be used after daemon
.Fn fork Ns s
to start a child process.
.Pp
The
.Fn pidfile_remove
function closes and removes a pidfile.
.Pp
The
.Fn pidfile_fileno
function returns the file descriptor for the open pidfile.
.Sh RETURN VALUES
The
.Fn pidfile_open
function returns a valid pointer to a
.Vt pidfh
structure on success, or
.Dv NULL
if an error occurs.
If an error occurs,
.Va errno
will be set.
.Pp
.Rv -std pidfile_write pidfile_close pidfile_remove
.Pp
The
.Fn pidfile_fileno
function returns the low-level file descriptor.
It returns
.Li -1
and sets
.Va errno
if a NULL
.Vt pidfh
is specified, or if the pidfile is no longer open.
.Sh EXAMPLES
The following example shows in which order these functions should be used.
Note that it is safe to pass
.Dv NULL
to
.Fn pidfile_write ,
.Fn pidfile_remove ,
.Fn pidfile_close
and
.Fn pidfile_fileno
functions.
.Bd -literal
struct pidfh *pfh;
pid_t otherpid, childpid;

pfh = pidfile_open("/var/run/daemon.pid", 0600, &otherpid);
if (pfh == NULL) {
	if (errno == EEXIST) {
		errx(EXIT_FAILURE, "Daemon already running, pid: %jd.",
		    (intmax_t)otherpid);
	}
	/* If we cannot create pidfile from other reasons, only warn. */
	warn("Cannot open or create pidfile");
}

if (daemon(0, 0) == -1) {
	warn("Cannot daemonize");
	pidfile_remove(pfh);
	exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}

pidfile_write(pfh);

for (;;) {
	/* Do work. */
	childpid = fork();
	switch (childpid) {
	case -1:
		syslog(LOG_ERR, "Cannot fork(): %s.", strerror(errno));
		break;
	case 0:
		pidfile_close(pfh);
		/* Do child work. */
		break;
	default:
		syslog(LOG_INFO, "Child %jd started.", (intmax_t)childpid);
		break;
	}
}

pidfile_remove(pfh);
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
.Ed
.Sh ERRORS
The
.Fn pidfile_open
function will fail if:
.Bl -tag -width Er
.It Bq Er EEXIST
Some process already holds the lock on the given pidfile, meaning that a
daemon is already running.
If
.Fa pidptr
argument is not
.Dv NULL
the function will use it to store a PID of an already running daemon or
.Li -1
in case daemon did not write its PID yet.
.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
Specified pidfile's name is too long.
.It Bq Er EINVAL
Some process already holds the lock on the given pidfile, but PID read
from there is invalid.
.El
.Pp
The
.Fn pidfile_open
function may also fail and set
.Va errno
for any errors specified for the
.Xr fcntl 2 ,
.Xr fstat 2 ,
.Xr open 2 ,
and
.Xr read 2
calls.
.Pp
The
.Fn pidfile_write
function will fail if:
.Bl -tag -width Er
.It Bq Er EDOOFUS
Improper function use.
Probably called before
.Fn pidfile_open .
.El
.Pp
The
.Fn pidfile_write
function may also fail and set
.Va errno
for any errors specified for the
.Xr fstat 2 ,
.Xr ftruncate 2 ,
and
.Xr write 2
calls.
.Pp
The
.Fn pidfile_close
function may fail and set
.Va errno
for any errors specified for the
.Xr close 2
and
.Xr fstat 2
calls.
.Pp
The
.Fn pidfile_remove
function will fail if:
.Bl -tag -width Er
.It Bq Er EDOOFUS
Improper function use.
Probably called not from the process which made
.Fn pidfile_write .
.El
.Pp
The
.Fn pidfile_remove
function may also fail and set
.Va errno
for any errors specified for the
.Xr close 2 ,
.Xr fstat 2 ,
.Xr write 2 ,
and
.Xr unlink 2
system calls and the
.Xr flopen 3
library function.
.Pp
The
.Fn pidfile_fileno
function will fail if:
.Bl -tag -width Er
.It Bq Er EDOOFUS
Improper function use.
Probably called not from the process which used
.Fn pidfile_open .
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr open 2 ,
.Xr daemon 3 ,
.Xr flopen 3
.Sh AUTHORS
.An -nosplit
The
.Nm pidfile
functionality is based on ideas from
.An John-Mark Gurney Aq jmg@FreeBSD.org .
.Pp
The code and manual page was written by
.An Pawel Jakub Dawidek Aq pjd@FreeBSD.org .