Install daemontools with Homebrew, apk, apt, MacPorts, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• envdir
• envuidgid
• fghack
• multilog
• pgrphack
• readproctitle
• setlock
• setuidgid
• softlimit
• supervise
• svc
• svok
• svscan
• svscanboot
• svstat
• tai64n
• tai64nlocal

Project history

The official daemontools page describes the package as tools for managing UNIX services. The install guide distributes daemontools-0.76.tar.gz under /package/admin/daemontools-0.76 and documents a /package-based installation layout.

The upgrade notes show the package stabilizing its service model across the 0.53, 0.60/0.61, 0.70, and 0.75/0.76 lines. Notable changes include supervise switching to a service directory and ./run script, older logging utilities being replaced by multilog, accustamp and tailocal being replaced by tai64n and tai64nlocal, setuidgid being renamed from setuser, setlock and envdir being added, svscan accepting a service directory argument, and the package moving under /package/admin/daemontools.

Adoption history

daemontools became influential among Unix administrators who wanted reliable supervision outside traditional init scripts. Its FAQ explicitly compares /service with inittab, ttys, init.d, and rc.local, arguing for easy installation and removal, automatic first startup, reliable restarts, reliable signaling, clean process state, and portability across Linux, BSD, Solaris, and other Unix systems.

Even on systems that no longer deploy daemontools itself, its vocabulary remains recognizable in later supervision systems: foreground daemons, run scripts, service directories, separate supervised loggers, and small process-control commands.

How it is used

A supervised service is a directory containing an executable ./run script. supervise changes into that directory, starts ./run, restarts it if it exits, honors a down file for initially disabled services, and writes status under the service directory's supervise subdirectory.

svscan starts one supervise process for each subdirectory of its scan directory, checks every five seconds for new services, restarts supervise processes that exit, and can also wire a service's output to a separately supervised log service. multilog saves, filters, timestamps, and rotates logs, pausing safely if the disk fills rather than dropping data.

Why package nerds care

For package nerds, daemontools is important because it expresses a service-manager philosophy in tiny binaries and directories rather than a large resident manager. The package is old, terse, and opinionated, but it influenced how Unix people talk about supervision, foreground services, log pipelines, and avoiding fragile init-script process state.

Timeline

• 0.53-0.61: supervise changes to run ./run from a service directory.
• 0.60-0.61: older logging and timestamp tools are replaced by multilog, tai64n, and tai64nlocal; setuser becomes setuidgid.
• 0.61-0.70: setlock and envdir are added; svscan gains a command-line /service argument.
• 0.70-0.76: package installs under /package/admin/daemontools; svscanboot, readproctitle, and pgrphack are added.
• 0.76: Official install guide distributes daemontools-0.76.tar.gz.

Related projects

• daemontools includes or centers on supervise, svscan, svc, svok, svstat, fghack, pgrphack, readproctitle, multilog, tai64n, tai64nlocal, setuidgid, envuidgid, envdir, softlimit, and setlock.
• Its service-supervision ideas are related to later daemontools-family and daemontools-inspired supervisors, though those projects are outside the official source set used here.

Sources

• https://cr.yp.to/daemontools.html
• https://cr.yp.to/daemontools/faq/create.html
• https://cr.yp.to/daemontools/install.html
• https://cr.yp.to/daemontools/supervise.html
• https://cr.yp.to/daemontools/svscan.html
• https://cr.yp.to/daemontools/upgrade.html