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    <H1>Apache Daemon Specification</H1>
    <H4>Version 1.0</H4>
  
    <P CLASS="note">
      <strong>Abstract:</strong>
      This document specifies the behavior and life cycle of an abstract
      Java&trade; daemon, in relation to its native container. In addition
      it defines a mechanism for controlling a daemon, and its interaction
      with the native OS process in which its existance is confined.
    </P>
  
    <H2>Index</H2>
    <OL>
      <LI><A HREF="#1">Introduction</A>
      <LI><A HREF="#2">Scope of this specification</A>
      <LI><A HREF="#3">The Daemon interface and its life cycle</A>
      <OL>
        <LI><A HREF="#3A">Instantiation</A>
        <LI><A HREF="#3B">Initialization</A>
        <LI><A HREF="#3C">Startup</A>
        <LI><A HREF="#3D">Stop</A>
        <LI><A HREF="#3E">Destruction</A>
      </OL>
    </OL>

    <A NAME="1"><H2>Introduction</H2></A>
    <P>
      Since 1994, the Java&trade; programming language evolved and became a
      valid tool to develop, other than applets and client applications,
      reliable and performant server applications. The major disadvantage of
      the Java&trade; platform is that still today the only portable way to
      start a Java&trade; applcation relies on a single point of entry: the
      <CODE><EM CLASS="key">public static void</EM> main(<EM CLASS="ref">String</EM>[])</CODE>
      method.
    </P>
    <P>
      Having a single-point of entry is a valid solution for client
      applications, where interactively a user can command to the application
      to quit (which can terminate the Virtual Machine process at calling the
      <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">System</EM>.exit(<EM CLASS="key">int</EM>)</CODE>
      method), but in those cases where the application is not interactive
      (server applications) there is currently no portable way to notify
      the Virtual Machine of its imminent shutdown.
    </P>
    <P>
      A server application written in Java might have to perform several tasks
      before being able to shutdown the Virtual Machine process. For example
      in the case of a Servlet container, before the VM process is shut down,
      sessions might need to be serialized to disk, and web applications need
      to be destroyed.
    </P>
    <P>
      One common solution to this problem is to create (for example) a
      <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">ServerSocket</EM></CODE> and wait for a particular
      message to be issued. When the message is received, all operations
      required to shut down the server applications are performed and at the
      end the <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">System</EM>.exit</CODE> method is called
      to terminate the Virtual Machine process. This method, however, implies
      several disadvantages and risks: for example in case of a system-wide
      shutdown, it might happen that the Virtual Machine process will be shut
      down directly by the operating system, without notifying the running
      server application. Or, for example, if an attacker finds out what is
      the required message to send to the server, and discovers a way to send
      this message to the running server application, he can easily interrupt
      the operation of a server, bypassing all the security restrictions
      implemented in the operating system.
    </P>
    <P>
      Most multi-user operating systems already have a way in which server
      applications are started and stopped, under Unix based operating systems
      non interactive server applications are called <em>daemons</em> and are
      controlled by the operating system with a set of specified
      <em>signals</em>. Under Windows such programs are called <em>daemons</em>
      and are controlled by appropriate calls to specific functions defined in
      the application binary, but although the ways of dealing with the problem
      are different, in both cases the operating system can notify a server
      application of its imminent shutdown, and the application has the
      ability to perform certain tasks before its process of execution is
      destroyed.
    </P>

    <A NAME="2"><H2>Scope of this specification</H2></A>
    <P>
      The scope of this specification is to define an API in line with the
      current Java&trade; Platform APIs to support an alternative invocation
      mechanism which could be used instead of the above mentioned
      <CODE><EM CLASS="key">public static void</EM> main(<EM CLASS="ref">String</EM>[])</CODE>
      method. This specification cover the behavior and life cycle of what
      we define as &quot;Java &trade; daemons&quot;, or, in other words,
      non interactive Java&trade; applications.
    </P>
    <P>
      This specification does not cover how the container of a Java&trade;
      daemon must be implemented, or how to build a native liaison between
      the operating system and the <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">Daemon</EM></CODE>
      interface, but defines the relation between the an operating system
      process and the <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">Daemon</EM></CODE> implementation
      life cycle. It should be trivial for implementors to build a native
      liaison and container for Java&trade; daemons.
    </P>
    <P>
      This specification, together with the related API documentation, can be
      used by software deveopers to build portable non interactive applications
      based on the Java&trade; platform.
    </P>

    <A NAME="3"><H2>The Daemon interface and its life cycle</H2></A>
    <P>
      The <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">Daemon</EM></CODE> interface (defined as
      follows) is the main interface representing a Java&trade; daemon:
    </P>
<PRE>
<EM CLASS="key">package</EM> org.apache.commons.daemon;

<EM CLASS="key">public interface</EM> <EM CLASS="ref">Daemon</EM>
<EM CLASS="key">extends</EM> <EM CLASS="ref">Runnable</EM> {

    <EM CLASS="key">public void</EM> init(<EM CLASS="ref">DaemonContext</EM> context)
    throws <EM CLASS="ref">Exception</EM>;

    <EM CLASS="key">public void</EM> run();

    <EM CLASS="key">public void</EM> die();

    <EM CLASS="key">public void</EM> destroy();
}</PRE>
    <P>
      A daemon is managed through a well defined life cycle that defines how
      it is loaded, initialized, started, stopped and destroyed. This life
      cycle is expressed in the API by the <CODE>init(...)</CODE>,
      <CODE>run()</CODE>, <CODE>die()</CODE> and <CODE>destroy()</CODE> methods
      of the <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">Daemon</EM></CODE> interface.
    </P>

    <A NAME="3A"><H3>Instantiation</H3></A>
    <P>
      The daemon container is responsible for instantiating daemons. Because
      of this, concrete implementations of the <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">Daemon</EM></CODE>
      interface must always expose a public void constructor, which will be
      used by the daemon container to create instances of the class.
      For example:
    </P>

<PRE>
<EM CLASS="key">package</EM> mypackage;

<EM CLASS="key">import</EM> org.apache.commons.daemon.*;


<EM CLASS="key">public class</EM> <EM CLASS="ref">MyDaemon</EM>
<EM CLASS="key">implements</EM> <EM CLASS="ref">Daemon</EM> {

    <EM CLASS="com">/** This constructor must be here. */</EM>
    <EM CLASS="key">public</EM> MyDaemon() {
        super();
        ...
    }
    ...
}</PRE>
    <P>
      Once the Virtual Machine process is started in the underlying operating
      system, and the Virtual Machine itself is created and configured, the
      daemon container associated with its native liaison constructs a new
      instance of the concrete class implementing the
      <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">Daemon</EM></CODE> instance. It is not defined by
      this specification how the instance is constructed, or how many instances
      of one or more concrete daemons implementation can coexist in the same
      Virtual Machine.
    </P>
    <P>
      As a side note, in case of multiple daemons running within the scope
      of the same virtual machine, developers should not rely on static
      methods and variables for proper operation, as it is advisable for
      security reasons to load each different daemon instance in a separate
      class loader.
    </P>

    <A NAME="3B"><H3>Initialization</H3></A>
    <P>
      After the daemon instance has been constructed, the container must
      initialize it before it can be started. Initialization is provided so
      that a daemon can read persisten configuration data, access native
      resources, and perform other one-time activities.
    </P>
    <P>
      Under certain operating systems (typically Unix based operating systems),
      and if the native liaison of the container supports and it is configured
      accordingly, this method might be called with super-user privileges.
      For example, within the scope of this method, it might be wise to create
      all required <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">ServerSocket</EM></CODE> instances (as
      under several operating systems this requires super-user privileges).
    </P>
    <P>
      That said, it is very important that within the scope of this method
      &quot;untrusted&quot; data cannot be processed (for example, starting
      an acceptor thread on a <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">ServerSocket</EM></CODE>
      which receives and processes data from unknown sources), as this would
      serious security hazards.
    </P>
    <P>
      The daemon container must guarantee that the <CODE>init(...)</CODE>
      method is called at least once, and only once on an instance of a
      daemon object, and that it will be called before any access to the
      <CODE>run()</CODE>, <CODE>die()</CODE> or <CODE>destroy()</CODE>
      methods.
    </P>
    <P>
      During initialization, the daemon instance can throw any
      <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">Exception</EM></CODE> preventing a the successful
      completion of the <CODE>init(...)</CODE> method. In this case the daemon
      instance must not be started, and the <CODE>destroy()</CODE> method must
      not be called before the instance is released by the container to allow
      garbage collecting.
    </P>

    <A NAME="3C"><H3>Startup</H3></A>
    <P>
      As the <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">Daemon</EM></CODE> interface extends the
      <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">Runnable</EM></CODE> interface, to start the
      operation of a daemon, the container calls the <CODE>run()</CODE> method
      within the scope of a <CODE><EM CLASS="ref">Thread</EM></CODE>. A
      daemon is said to be &quot;running&quot; until the thread
    </P>



    <HR>
    <P CLASS="copyright">
      Author Pier Fumagalli
      <A HREF="mailto:pier.fumagalli@sun.com">&lt;pier.fumagalli@sun.com&gt;</A>
      <BR>
      Copyright &copy; 2001, The Apache Software Foundation
      <A HREF="http://www.apache.org/">&lt;http://www.apache.org/&gt;</A>
      <BR>
      All rights reserved.
    </P>

    <P CLASS="copyright">
      Sun, Sun Microsystems, Solaris, and Java are trademarks or registered
      trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
      <A HREF="http://www.sun.com/">&lt;http://www.sun.com/&gt;</A>
      <BR>
      UNIX&reg; is a registered trademark in the United States and other
      countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd.
      <A HREF="http://www.opengroup.org/">&lt;http://www.opengroup.org/&gt;</A>
      <BR>
      Windows, WinNT and Win32 are registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.
      <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/">&lt;http://www.microsoft.com/&gt;</A>
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