[Python-ideas] Draft PEP: Standard daemon process library

[Guido van Rossum]

On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 2:11 PM, Ben Finney <ben+python at benfinney.id.au> wrote:
> I am preparing a PEP, and corresponding reference implementation, for
> a standard implementation of the steps needed to turn a program into a
> well-behaved Unix daemon.
>
> This message is a call for comments, support, and suggestions, prior
> to submitting this PEP to the editor.

I would like to note that there are many existing packages that
provide support for daemonization (including one I wrote for Zope long
ago, which still appears to be around under the name zdaemon). Twisted
also seems to have one. I also recall hearing a talk at PyCon a few
years ago about a descendant of my zdaemon on steroids.

I have an inkling that this is one of those problems where the many
solutions that are hard to compare, because they have different APIs
or make different assumptions about the ultimate goals. The basics are
very simple (just follow the recipe from the Stevens book), but that's
a bit rough, and beyond that everyone seems to have a different idea
on what use cases need to be support and what the most flexible API is
to support all desirable use cases.

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)