What's the right way to run a python script as a daemon (service) in raspbian (or debian)?

Question

I'd like to use my Pi as a home thermostat, with the control loop running in a python script. I want to run it as a daemon on raspbian (debian) at startup.

There's an example bash script in /etc/init.d/skeleton, but it seems unpythonic to mash bash and python together. There are python modules and deb packages that can help with start/stop/alert command processing:

Has anyone had success with a particular approach for daemonizing a "real-time" feedback control loop on the Pi?

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 24 '17 at 20:57

6

I have done this on several projects. https://bitbucket.org/dnetman99/raspberrypiprojects if you look at the gpsdpiTracker, the trackerServer.py uses the daemon class to daemonize the script. I then just use restartd to watch if it stops and restarts it, which also means it will start it after boot as well. I also have used the skeleton file for start, stop daemon, but is not necessary if you use this method.

restartd = sudo apt-get install restartd

edited Dec 24 '17 at 20:57

alecxe

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answered Mar 12 '13 at 17:24

Robert

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Thanks! Awesome examples. Will see if I can recycle some of that code. The daemon class is from python-daemon module based on PEP 3143 and restartd is here. – hobs Mar 12 '13 at 17:56
Actually looks like you rolled your own Daemon class. Nice. – hobs Mar 12 '13 at 18:05
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Except for the she-bang line, the Demon class in dnetman99's bitbucket is identical to Sander Marechal's simple daemon from 2007. Credit where credit is due. Via here – RolfBly Nov 16 '14 at 21:38

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 14 '13 at 22:04

2

Look at the way we daemonize in the client pybit-client.

https://github.com/nicholasdavidson/pybit

That was designed to run as a daemon on small ARM boxes 24/7.

Handles logging, signal handling, start/stop scripts etc...

answered Mar 14 '13 at 22:04

James Bennet

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What's the right way to run a python script as a daemon (service) in raspbian (or debian)?

2 Answers2

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