Darren Reed wrote:
> Background
> ----------
>
> Since early 90's the libc library shipped with BSD systems contained the
> daemon() function. It is still being used by daemons to go into background.
> Now, late in the first decade it's time to add the function to Solaris' libc.
>
> Proposal
> --------
>
> This case proposes to add the daemon() function to libc.
>
> The goal of this case is to make it easier to port new software to
> OpenSolaris,
> make it more compatible with BSD systems and last but not least make
> OpenSolaris more approachable for Linux/BSD programmers.
>
> Comments
> --------
>
> One could argue that the original daemon() does not offer much flexibility
> and that this approach to daemonization is actually not sufficient in SMF
> world. While this is true, it is out of scope of this case to provide modern
> alternative.
>
From what I could tell, the daemon() function is not present on Linux
(glibc). In my opinion, if this is true, it greatly diminishes the
"familiarity" argument in favor of adding this as a new interface.
While its probably a bit unfortunate to equate "familiarity" to Linux,
IMO this is the natural state of the ecosystem. The number of
developers targeting non-portable BSD-specific interfaces these days is
almost vanishingly small. (The same is not true of Linux.)
This is particularly true given that daemon() is, as noted, insufficient
in the modern "Solaris" way of doing things.
I'm disinclined to support an interface that is substandard *and* which
does not share widespread adoption in the FOSS community.
If I've misunderstood about the availability of daemon() in Linux,
please feel free to correct me. Otherwise I'd be punching the derail
button on this case.
- Garrett
