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Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:35:53 -0500
To: Stephen Allen <sdafreebsduk@rowyerboat.com>,
	FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
From: Derek Ragona <derek@computinginnovations.com>
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Subject: Re: Question about rc-scripts
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At 05:45 PM 10/8/2007, Stephen Allen wrote:
>Under normal circumstance, should the /etc/rc.subr functions handle the
>creation of the pid at service start?
>
>The basic vendor-provided script (which I've had to adapt somewhat to
>suit this installation) runs "echo $! > ${dbgw_pidfile}" as the last
>line of the script.  When you do a 'status' command though, it blanks
>out the contents of the pid.  That echo line isn't present in any of the
>standard scripts - hence my initial question.
>
>Apart from variable assignments, the script defines 'start_cmd' (which I
>assume is used as the start command by rc.subr).  Strange that I
>couldn't find any reference to start_cmd in /etc/rc.subr though.
>
>So, my question is, why isn't the pidfile being automagically created?
>
>Many thanks,
>Steve

Not all scripts create a pid file is the simple answer.

Your script should create the pid file on start, remove it on stop, and 
simply cat that file on a status.  If you want help with your script, post 
it, and I'm sure one of us will give you a hand.

         -Derek

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