Python script as linux service/daemon

Question

Hallo,

I'm trying to let a python script run as service (daemon) on (ubuntu) linux.

On the web there exist several solutions like:

http://pypi.python.org/pypi/python-daemon/

A well-behaved Unix daemon process is tricky to get right, but the required steps are much the same for every daemon program. A DaemonContext instance holds the behaviour and configured process environment for the program; use the instance as a context manager to enter a daemon state.

http://www.jejik.com/articles/2007/02/a_simple_unix_linux_daemon_in_python/

However as I want to integrate my python script specifically with ubuntu linux my solution is a combination with an init.d script

#!/bin/bash

WORK_DIR="/var/lib/foo"
DAEMON="/usr/bin/python"
ARGS="/opt/foo/linux_service.py"
PIDFILE="/var/run/foo.pid"
USER="foo"

case "$1" in
  start)
    echo "Starting server"
    mkdir -p "$WORK_DIR"
    /sbin/start-stop-daemon --start --pidfile $PIDFILE \
        --user $USER --group $USER \
        -b --make-pidfile \
        --chuid $USER \
        --exec $DAEMON $ARGS
    ;;
  stop)
    echo "Stopping server"
    /sbin/start-stop-daemon --stop --pidfile $PIDFILE --verbose
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/$USER {start|stop}"
    exit 1
    ;;
esac

exit 0

and in python:

import signal
import time
import multiprocessing

stop_event = multiprocessing.Event()

def stop(signum, frame):
    stop_event.set()

signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, stop)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    while not stop_event.is_set():
        time.sleep(3)

My question now is if this approach is correct. Do I have to handle any additional signals? Will it be a "well-behaved Unix daemon process"?

Answer 1

Assuming your daemon has some way of continually running (some event loop, twisted, whatever), you can try to use upstart .

Here's an example upstart config for a hypothetical Python service:

description "My service"
author  "Some Dude <blah@foo.com>"

start on runlevel [234]
stop on runlevel [0156]

chdir /some/dir
exec /some/dir/script.py
respawn

If you save this as script.conf to /etc/init you simple do a one-time

$ sudo initctl reload-configuration
$ sudo start script

You can stop it with stop script . What the above upstart conf says is to start this service on reboots and also restart it if it dies.

As for signal handling - your process should naturally respond to SIGTERM . By default this should be handled unless you've specifically installed your own signal handler.

Answer 2

Rloton's answer is good. Here is a light refinement, just because I spent a ton of time debugging. And I need to do a new answer so I can format properly.

A couple other points that took me forever to debug:

1. When it fails, first check /var/log/upstart/.log
2. If your script implements a daemon with python-daemon , you do NOT use the 'expect daemon' stanza. Having no 'expect' works. I don't know why. (If anyone knows why - please post!)
3. Also, keep checking "initctl status script" to make sure you are up (start/running). (and do a reload when you update your conf file)

Here is my version:

description "My service"
author  "Some Dude <blah@foo.com>"

env PYTHON_HOME=/<pathtovirtualenv>
env PATH=$PYTHON_HOME:$PATH

start on runlevel [2345]
stop on runlevel [016]

chdir <directory>

# NO expect stanza if your script uses python-daemon
exec $PYTHON_HOME/bin/python script.py

# Only turn on respawn after you've debugged getting it to start and stop properly
respawn