Linux - Newbie This Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question?
If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place! |
Notices |
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
Are you new to LinuxQuestions.org? Visit the following links:
Site Howto |
Site FAQ |
Sitemap |
Register Now
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
|
 |
09-25-2005, 11:55 AM
|
#1
|
Member
Registered: Aug 2005
Posts: 298
Rep:
|
whats a daemon
When something is running as a daemon what does that mean?
|
|
|
09-25-2005, 12:00 PM
|
#2
|
LQ Guru
Registered: Feb 2003
Location: Virginia, USA
Distribution: Debian 12
Posts: 8,398
|
"When something is running as a daemon what does that mean?"
Here is a good definition of daemon.
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;...text=Daemon%20(computer%20software)
---------------------------
Steve Stites
|
|
|
09-26-2005, 09:12 PM
|
#3
|
Member
Registered: Sep 2005
Location: New delhi
Distribution: RHEL 3.0/4.0
Posts: 777
Rep:
|
Hi
When something is running as a Daemon . it means its a program which is running in background & running all the time untill you gracefully stops it.
Now second part... This program which is running in background offers service to whtever it meant for.
e.g. VSFTPD being a daemon, keeps running untill you gracefully stops it or by the time its running it will keep offering you a service of FTP( file transfer protocol) & loging to FTP to use its service.
So thts wht we call as DAEMON.
|
|
|
09-26-2005, 09:18 PM
|
#4
|
LQ Guru
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Sydney
Distribution: Rocky 9.x
Posts: 18,443
|
A daemon runs in the backgound ( & ) , detached from the terminal (nohup) eg:
nohup daemon &
Note that it doesn't have to offer services, but services usually are daemons...
|
|
|
09-27-2005, 10:33 AM
|
#5
|
Member
Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Manchester UK
Posts: 264
Rep:
|
Ooooh, you mean like an Incubus or a Succubus offers you their services? 
Last edited by morrolan; 09-27-2005 at 10:34 AM.
|
|
|
09-27-2005, 10:51 AM
|
#6
|
LQ Newbie
Registered: Aug 2005
Posts: 28
Rep:
|
I'm actually interested in how that term came about for the computer world, anyway. How is it that someone decided to call a service/process that hangs around until you need it a "daemon"? Why not "genie"? Or "attendant"? Or "Succubus"? ;-D
|
|
|
09-27-2005, 05:31 PM
|
#7
|
Member
Registered: May 2005
Posts: 378
Rep:
|
Quote:
Originally posted by Superion
I'm actually interested in how that term came about for the computer world, anyway. How is it that someone decided to call a service/process that hangs around until you need it a "daemon"? Why not "genie"? Or "attendant"? Or "Succubus"? ;-D
|
My dictionary defines daemon as "a spirit holding a middle place between gods and men, a good genius". UNIX is God, so it seems pretty appropriate to me. I did hear, many years ago, and probably an urban legend, of a religious organisation who took delivery of a UNIX system but refused to use it when they discovered there were daemons running inside it.
|
|
|
09-27-2005, 06:24 PM
|
#8
|
Member
Registered: Jun 2004
Location: San Francisco
Distribution: Slackware, Ubuntu, RHEL, OS X
Posts: 159
Rep:
|
|
|
|
09-30-2005, 05:19 PM
|
#9
|
LQ Newbie
Registered: Sep 2005
Posts: 2
Rep:
|
Pronunciation of Daemon
Is there any more divisive issue today in the IT community? You say Deemun, I say Daymun, I say tomayto, you say tomahto.
The actual origin of the term daemon or more correctly, d©¡mon, is generally accepted to be the "ministering spirit" that Socrates claimed guided his explorations into the nature of the life, the universe, and everything. In the Greek, this word is ¥ä¥á¥é¥ì¥ø¥í. transliterated to English as "daimon" -- pronounced "dye-moan".
The Greek word for children, ¥ð¥á¥é¥ä¥é¥á, pronounced "pie-dee-a" is the source of our English words "encyclop©¡dia" and "p©¡diatrician" -- or for my fellow Americans, "encyclopedia" and "pediatrician" -- which demonstrates that the Greek "¥á¥é" became "©¡" in English -- originally a seperate letter letter of the alphabet, not to be confused with the vowel combination "ae". However most people do not know how to type ©¡, so it ends up as ae in most English words.
The physicist James Clerk Maxwell adopted the term d©¡mon in his investigation of the laws of thermodynamics, to refer to the "agent" that controlled the"gate" at a narrow opening through which gasses were exchanged at the molecular level. This may be how it worked its way into the techie lexicon.
When it boils right down to it though, there truly is no "correct" pronunciation for any word, only a "standard" or generally accepted one, which fluctuates over time. The dictionary in the final analysis does not dictate how a word shall be pronounced, it can only report how it IS being pronounced. Controlling the direction of evolution of the mother tongue is rather like pushing a rope,
There was a time a century or so ago when the generally accepted pronunciation of the word "piano" in my part of the US was "pie-annie", but that edition of the word has fallen into disuse in favor of the more urbane "pee-ann-oh", which in turn probably drives Europeans batty because we Americans do not say pee-ah-no, which is the original pronunciation.
Every spring I have the annual discussion with the wife over whether the flowers called peonies are pronounced "pineys" or the (ahem) CORRECT pronunciation, "pee-oh-nees"
The point is not whether there is a "correct" way to say daemon, but whether in saying it, the idea expressed by it is understood, or whether a competing but similar pronunciation denotes something entirely different. Whether you say "demon" or "daymon", I still know what you are talking about.
|
|
|
10-05-2005, 11:38 PM
|
#10
|
LQ Newbie
Registered: Aug 2005
Posts: 28
Rep:
|
Quote:
Originally posted by eddiebaby1023
My dictionary defines daemon as "a spirit holding a middle place between gods and men, a good genius". UNIX is God, so it seems pretty appropriate to me.
|
<very dryly> I wouldn't go that far by a long shot. But I get your general drift.
On the issue of pronunciation: I say "DAY-mon" (daemon)
|
|
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:51 PM.
|
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
|
Latest Threads
LQ News
|
|