gLSB: sysinit: clearify algorithm for determining status of programs

Tobias Burnus <[email protected]> Thu, 28 Aug 2003 21:42:06 +0200 (CEST)

Newsgroups	gmane.linux.lsb.discuss
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Hi,

this patch does:

- use some more caps for the titles for consistancy

- move is-program-running section from pidofproc into a dedicated
  paragraph

- programs should delete pidfile if they are stopped

- discourage to use _only_ /proc/PID/exe to check whether a program is
  running since this prevents e.g. perl-based daemons
  See bug #677744 and
  http://freestandards.org/pipermail/lsb-discuss/2003-July/001716.html
  This affects Debian. (RedHat and SuSE are known to be not-affected.)

- killproc should delete the pidfile, if the program has been stopped
  and the file still exists.
  Reasoning: a SIGKILLed program can not remove it itself.

- pidofproc shall only return pids of running processes.



The changes should reflect the de-facto used methods, except for:

- check whether a program is running for script-based daemons
  -> this fails at least in Debian (Debian bug 167757)

- deleting of the pid file by killproc if the program is no longer
  running

- returning only pids of running processes
  (SuSE and RedHat check for this, Debian, see bug 207639)

Note that those are only "should" clauses.


(Distributors:) Please check whether there is any clash with a current
implementation which behaviour should be still allowed or used instead.

Tobias

sysinit.diff (text/plain, 6.6 KB)

? sysinit.diff
Index: facnames.sgml
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/lsb/lsbspec/gLSB/sysinit/facnames.sgml,v
retrieving revision 1.9
diff -u -r1.9 facnames.sgml
--- facnames.sgml	12 Aug 2003 21:31:28 -0000	1.9
+++ facnames.sgml	28 Aug 2003 19:34:37 -0000
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <SECT1 ID=facilname>
 
-<TITLE>Facility names</TITLE>
+<TITLE>Facility Names</TITLE>
 
 <PARA>
 Boot facilities are used to indicate dependencies in init scripts, as
Index: initfunctions.sgml
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/lsb/lsbspec/gLSB/sysinit/initfunctions.sgml,v
retrieving revision 1.11
diff -u -r1.11 initfunctions.sgml
--- initfunctions.sgml	12 Aug 2003 21:31:28 -0000	1.11
+++ initfunctions.sgml	28 Aug 2003 19:34:37 -0000
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <SECT1 ID=iniscrptfunc>
 
-<TITLE>Init script Functions</TITLE>
+<TITLE>Init Script Functions</TITLE>
 
 <PARA>
 Each LSB-compliant init.d script shall source the file
@@ -13,14 +13,35 @@
 defined by POSIX.2.
 </PARA>
 
+<PARA>
+The <code>start_daemon</code>, <code>killproc</code> and <code>pidofproc</code>
+functions shall use this algorithm for determining the status and the pid(s)
+of the specified program. They shall read the pidfile specified or otherwise
+<code>/var/run/basename.pid</code>. 
+The method used to determine whether a program is running is implementation
+defined, but should allow for non-binary programs.
+<footnote>
+This note is only informative. Common methods check either for the existance
+of the <code>/proc/pid</code> directory or use <code>/proc/pid/exe</code>
+and <code>/proc/pid/cmdline</code>. Relying only on
+<code>/proc/pid/exe</code> is discouraged since this results in a
+not-running status for daemons that are written in a script language.
+</footnote>
+Complient implementations may attempt to use other mechanisms for determining
+the pid(s). Compliant applications should not rely on such mechanisms and use
+a pidfile, which should be deleted when the program is stopped. Multiple pid(s)
+shall be separated by a single space in the pidfile and in the output of
+<code>pidofproc</code>.
+</PARA>
+
 <SIMPLELIST type=horiz columns=2>
 <MEMBER>start_daemon [-f] [-n nicelevel] [-p pidfile] pathname [args]</MEMBER>
 
 <MEMBER>
 This runs the specified program as a daemon.
-start_daemon will check to see if the program is already running
-using the algorithm given by pidofproc. If so, it will not
-start another copy of the daemon unless the -f
+start_daemon shall check if the program is already running
+using the algorithm given above. If so, it shall not
+start another copy of the daemon unless the <code>-f</code>
 option is given. The -n option specifies a nice
 level. See nice(1).
 start_daemon should return the LSB defined exit status codes. It
@@ -32,14 +53,16 @@
 
 <MEMBER>
 This stops the specified program. The program is 
-found using the algorithm given by pidofproc. If a
+found using the algorithm given above. If a
 signal is specified, using the
 -<replaceable>signal_name</replaceable> or
 -<replaceable>signal_number</replaceable> syntaxes
-specified by the <command>kill</command> command,
+as specified by the <command>kill</command> command,
 the program is sent that signal.
 Otherwise, a SIGTERM followed by a SIGKILL
-after some number of seconds is sent.
+after some number of seconds shall be sent.
+If a program has been terminated, the pidfile should be removed if the
+terminated process has not already done so.
 Compliant applications may use the basename instead of the 
 pathname.
 killproc should return the LSB defined exit status codes. If called
@@ -52,22 +75,10 @@
 
 <MEMBER>
 This function returns one or more pid(s) for a particular
-daemon. If an entry is found in
-/var/run/basename.pid, then that value is returned.
-If the -p option is used, the given pidfile is used instead.
-Compliant applications may use the basename instead of the
-pathname.
-Compliant implementations of the LSB may attempt
-other mechanisms for determining the pid(s),
-although this is not required (and not
-recommended, since a user can trick startup scripts
-by creating processes that appear to be system
-programs in the process list thus creating a
-potential security exposure).  Hence, LSB-complaint
-applications who wish to use the pidofproc function
-in their init scripts shall store the pid in
-/var/run/basename.pid. multiple pids should be separated by a single space.
-pidofproc should return the LSB defined exist status
+daemon using the algorithm given above. Only pids of running processes
+should be returned.
+Compliant applications may use the basename instead of the pathname.
+pidofproc should return the LSB defined exit status
 codes for "status". It shall return 0 if the program is
 running and not 0 otherwise.
 </MEMBER>
Index: initscripts.sgml
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/lsb/lsbspec/gLSB/sysinit/initscripts.sgml,v
retrieving revision 1.12
diff -u -r1.12 initscripts.sgml
--- initscripts.sgml	12 Aug 2003 21:31:28 -0000	1.12
+++ initscripts.sgml	28 Aug 2003 19:34:37 -0000
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <SECT1 ID=initscrcomconv>
-<TITLE>Comment conventions for init scripts</TITLE>
-<TITLEABBREV ID="initscriptsShort">Comment conventions for init scripts</TITLEABBREV>
+<TITLE>Comment Conventions for Init Scripts</TITLE>
+<TITLEABBREV ID="initscriptsShort">Comment Conventions for Init Scripts</TITLEABBREV>
 
 <PARA>
 LSB applications which need to execute script(s) at bootup and/or
Index: installinit.sgml
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/lsb/lsbspec/gLSB/sysinit/installinit.sgml,v
retrieving revision 1.5
diff -u -r1.5 installinit.sgml
--- installinit.sgml	23 Jul 2003 18:08:05 -0000	1.5
+++ installinit.sgml	28 Aug 2003 19:34:37 -0000
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <SECT1 ID=initsrcinstrm>
 
-<TITLE>Installation and removal of init.d files</TITLE>
+<TITLE>Installation and Removal of init.d Files</TITLE>
 
 <PARA>
 An init.d file is installed by copying it into /etc/init.d (which may
Index: scriptnames.sgml
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/lsb/lsbspec/gLSB/sysinit/scriptnames.sgml,v
retrieving revision 1.11
diff -u -r1.11 scriptnames.sgml
--- scriptnames.sgml	12 Aug 2003 21:31:28 -0000	1.11
+++ scriptnames.sgml	28 Aug 2003 19:34:37 -0000
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <SECT1 ID=scrptnames>
 
-<TITLE>Script names</TITLE>
+<TITLE>Script Names</TITLE>
 
 <PARA>
 Since the init.d scripts shall live in a single directory, they shall