init.d startup script

[Paul Howarth]

Al Sparks wrote:
> This is a small thing, but it's bothering me.
> 
> I've got a startup script placed in /etc/init.d that starts up Xvfb for
> me.  I basically used the /etc/init.d/sendmail startup as a template.
> 
>    start() {
>           
>           # Start daemons.
>           echo -n $"Starting $prog: "
>           daemon Xvfb :1 -screen 0 6x6x8 -fp /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc &
>           RETVAL=0
>           echo
>           return $RETVAL
>   }
> 
> When I run 
>    # service Xvfb start
> 
> I get "Starting Xvfb" w/o the "[ OK  ]" at the end of the line.  But
> Xvfb does start up.
> 
> Also, when I do a 
>   # ps -Ao "%u %p %P %a" | grep Xvfb
>   root      1528     1 /bin/bash /etc/init.d/Xvfb start
>   root      1529  1528 initlog -q -c Xvfb :1 -screen 0 6x6x8 -fp /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc
>   root      1530  1529 Xvfb :1 -screen 0 6x6x8 -fp /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc
> 
> Now when I run the same startup without the "daemon" in front of the
> program name, I get 
> 
>   # ps -Ao "%u %p %P %a" | grep Xvfb
>   root      1583     1 Xvfb :1 -screen 0 6x6x8 -fp /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc
> 
> which seems more reasonable.
> 
> 
> Since I can get the script to startup what I want to start up, it's not
> a big deal.  I'm only doing this for aesthetics.  But still...

The "daemon" function is intended to be used with programs that put 
themselves in the background, and doesn't work so well if you have to do 
it yourself wuth "&".

I had a similar problem with the initscripts for bittorrent (seed and 
tracker programs) in Fedora Extras. What I ended up with was along the 
lines of:

   echo -n $"Starting BitTorrent seed client: "
   /sbin/runuser -s /bin/sh -c "$prog $OPTS" $USER >> $LOG 2>&1 &
   disown -ar
   usleep 500000
   status btseed &> /dev/null && echo_success || echo_failure
   RETVAL=$?
   [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && touch /var/lock/subsys/btseed
   echo

Something similar might work for you.

Paul.