Init script does not create a PID file

Question

I need to create an init script for an IRC logger. I copied /etc/init.d/skeleton. I filled in the configuration section to fit my needs and I also had to add --background to the start daemon command since my IRC logger doesn't split off. The logger starts up fine when I use my init script, but it doesn't create the .pid file like it should. As a result the process cannot be stopped unless I find out the process ID myself and kill it. Here is the script:

#! /bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          skeleton
# Required-Start:    $remote_fsh
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Example initscript
# Description:       This file should be used to construct scripts to be
#                    placed in /etc/init.d.
### END INIT INFO

# Author: Cory Walker <[email protected]>
#
# Please remove the "Author" lines above and replace them
# with your own name if you copy and modify this script.

# Do NOT "set -e"

# PATH should only include /usr/* if it runs after the mountnfs.sh script
PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
DESC="Logs specified IRC channels."
NAME=irclogger
DAEMON=/usr/sbin/$NAME
#DAEMON_ARGS="irc.freenode.net linux4nano linux4nano-dev freemyipod freemyipod-dev"
DAEMON_ARGS="irc.freenode.net blablabla"
PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid
SCRIPTNAME=/etc/init.d/$NAME

# Exit if the package is not installed
[ -x "$DAEMON" ] || exit 0

# Read configuration variable file if it is present
[ -r /etc/default/$NAME ] && . /etc/default/$NAME

# Load the VERBOSE setting and other rcS variables
. /lib/init/vars.sh

# Define LSB log_* functions.
# Depend on lsb-base (>= 3.0-6) to ensure that this file is present.
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

#
# Function that starts the daemon/service
#
do_start()
{
 # Return
 #   0 if daemon has been started
 #   1 if daemon was already running
 #   2 if daemon could not be started
 start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON --test > /dev/null \
  || return 1
 start-stop-daemon --start --background --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON -- \
  $DAEMON_ARGS \
  || return 2
 # Add code here, if necessary, that waits for the process to be ready
 # to handle requests from services started subsequently which depend
 # on this one.  As a last resort, sleep for some time.
}

#
# Function that stops the daemon/service
#
do_stop()
{
 # Return
 #   0 if daemon has been stopped
 #   1 if daemon was already stopped
 #   2 if daemon could not be stopped
 #   other if a failure occurred
 start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=TERM/30/KILL/5 --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
 RETVAL="$?"
 [ "$RETVAL" = 2 ] && return 2
 # Wait for children to finish too if this is a daemon that forks
 # and if the daemon is only ever run from this initscript.
 # If the above conditions are not satisfied then add some other code
 # that waits for the process to drop all resources that could be
 # needed by services started subsequently.  A last resort is to
 # sleep for some time.
 start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --retry=0/30/KILL/5 --exec $DAEMON
 [ "$?" = 2 ] && return 2
 # Many daemons don't delete their pidfiles when they exit.
 rm -f $PIDFILE
 return "$RETVAL"
}

#
# Function that sends a SIGHUP to the daemon/service
#
do_reload() {
 #
 # If the daemon can reload its configuration without
 # restarting (for example, when it is sent a SIGHUP),
 # then implement that here.
 #
 start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
 return 0
}

case "$1" in
  start)
 [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME"
 do_start
 case "$?" in
  0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
  2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
 esac
 ;;
  stop)
 [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME"
 do_stop
 case "$?" in
  0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
  2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
 esac
 ;;
  #reload|force-reload)
 #
 # If do_reload() is not implemented then leave this commented out
 # and leave 'force-reload' as an alias for 'restart'.
 #
 #log_daemon_msg "Reloading $DESC" "$NAME"
 #do_reload
 #log_end_msg $?
 #;;
  restart|force-reload)
 #
 # If the "reload" option is implemented then remove the
 # 'force-reload' alias
 #
 log_daemon_msg "Restarting $DESC" "$NAME"
 do_stop
 case "$?" in
   0|1)
  do_start
  case "$?" in
   0) log_end_msg 0 ;;
   1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running
   *) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start
  esac
  ;;
   *)
    # Failed to stop
  log_end_msg 1
  ;;
 esac
 ;;
  *)
 #echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|restart|reload|force-reload}" >&2
 echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|restart|force-reload}" >&2
 exit 3
 ;;
esac

:

Solution

Add the --make-pidfile option to your call of start-stop-daemon. --pidfile only tells start-stop-daemon where to look for the pidfile, without --make-pidfile it is assume that this pidfile is created by the program to be launched, and not by start-stop-daemon.

Be sure to read the manpage of start-stop-daemon(8) for more details.

Comments

[Cory Walker]

Haha that makes sense. I wonder why the skeleton init script that comes with Ubuntu doesn't have that though. Weird.