Daemonizing a Python Script
Posted by Motoma
As my knowledge of Python continues to grow, I find myself using it more in my own systems. This is one of my more useful snippets of code; it allows a Python script to continue running as a daemon even if you log out or your session gets disconnected. A nice side effect of this is that the process is immediately run in the background, returning the user to a command prompt instantly.
I originally picked up the code to run a Python script as a daemon from the Python Cookbook on the ActiveState Programmer Network.
#! /usr/bin/env python
from os import fork, chdir, setsid, umask
from sys import exit
def main():
while 1:
#main daemon process loop
# Dual fork hack to make process run as a daemon
if __name__ == "__main__":
try:
pid = fork()
if pid > 0:
exit(0)
except OSError, e:
exit(1)
chdir("/")
setsid()
umask(0)
try:
pid = fork()
if pid > 0:
exit(0)
except OSError, e:
exit(1)
main()
Hope this is as useful to you as it is to me,
Motoma
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Comments
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Great post! Thanks a lot. It was exactly what I was looking for.
Posted by Casey, 08/05/2009 3:14am (10 months ago)