.\" Hey, Emacs!  This is an -*- nroff -*- source file.
.TH START\-STOP\-DAEMON 8 "15th March 1997" "Debian Project" "Debian GNU/Linux"
.SH NAME
start\-stop\-daemon \- start and stop system daemon programs
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B start-stop-daemon
.BR -S|--start
.IR "options ... -- arguments ..."
.HP
.B start-stop-daemon
.BR -K|--stop
.IR "options ..."
.HP
.B start-stop-daemon
.BR -H|--help
.HP
.B start-stop-daemon
.BR -V|--version
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B start\-stop\-daemon
is used to control the creation and termination of system-level processes.
Using the
.BR --exec
,
.BR --pidfile
,
.BR --user
, and
.BR --name
options, 
.B start\-stop\-daemon
can be configured to find existing instances of a running process.

With
.BR --start
,
.B start\-stop\-daemon
checks for the existence of a specified process.
If such a process exists,
.B start\-stop\-daemon
does nothing, and exits with error status 1 (0 if
.BR --oknodo
is specified).  
If such a process does not exist, it starts an
instance, using either the executable specified by
.BR --exec
, (or, if specified, by
.BR --startas
).
Any arguments given after
.BR --
on the command line are passed unmodified to the program being
started.

With 
.BR --stop
,
.B start\-stop\-daemon
also checks for the existence of a specified process.
If such a process exists,
.B start\-stop\-daemon
sends it the signal specified by
.BR --signal
, and exits with error status 0.
If such a process does not exist,
.B start\-stop\-daemon
exits with error status 1
(0 if 
.BR --oknodo
is specified).  

.SH OPTIONS

.TP
.I -x|--exec executable
Check for processes that are instances of this executable (according to 
.B /proc/
.I pid
.B /exe 
).
.TP
.I -p|--pidfile pid-file
Check for processes whose process-id is specified in 
.I pid-file.
.TP
.I -u|--user username|uid
Check for processes owned by the user specified by
.I username 
or
.I uid.
.TP
.I -n|--name process-name
Check for processes with the name
.I process-name
(according to
.B /proc/
.I pid
.B /stat 
).
.TP
.I -s|--signal signal
With
.BR --stop
, specifies the signal to send to processes being stopped (default 15).
.TP
.I -a|--startas pathname
With 
.B --start
, start the process specified by 
.I pathname.
If not specified, defaults to the argument given to
.B --exec.
.TP
.I -t|--test
Print actions that would be taken and set appropriate return value,
but take no action.
.TP
.I -o|--oknodo
Return exit status 0 instead of 1 if no actions are (would be) taken.
.TP
.I -q|--quiet
Do not print informational messages; only display error messages.
.TP
.I -v|--verbose
Print verbose informational messages.
.TP
.I -H|--help
Print help information; then exit.
.TP
.I -V|--version
Print version information; then exit.

.SH AUTHORS
Ian Jackson <ijackson@gnu.ai.mit.edu>

Marek Michalkiewicz <marekm@i17linuxb.ists.pwr.wroc.pl>

Manual page by Klee Dienes <klee@mit.edu>.