1 min read 212 words Updated Mar 08, 2026 Created May 09, 2026

Daemon Tools

daemontools

A collection of programs written by DJB.

Most this page is about using the svc and svstat commands in working with qmail. The same ideas can be applied to djbdns as well (dnscache for instance).

See also

It is typical for qmail to run under the supervise command. If so, these commands will tell supervise that qmail should be stopped.

svc -d /service/qmail
svc -d /service/qread
svc -d /service/qstat
svc -d /service/smtpd

OK let say that fails for some reason, here is a more bullyish approach.

svc -k /service/qmail
svc -k /service/qread
svc -k /service/qstat
svc -k /service/smtpd

Check qmail processes

svstat /service/qmail
svstat /service/qread
svstat /service/qstat
svstat /service/smtpd

(re)Start same

svc -u /service/qmail
svc -u /service/qread
svc -u /service/qstat
svc -u /service/smtpd

Check, stop and start djbdns (/dnscache/) processes

svstat /service/dnscache
/service/dnscache: up (pid 1336) 2421 seconds

svc -d /service/dnscache
svstat /service/dnscache
/service/dnscache: down 3 seconds, normally up

svc -u /service/dnscache
svstat /service/dnscache
/service/dnscache: up (pid 1869) 2 seconds

Regarding supervise, it may look in /service/, /etc/service/ or /etc/sv/

On Ubuntu it will be /etc/service/

Here are some of the more interesting svc flags

-u = up/enable
-d = down/disable
-t = restart
-k = kill (if -d doesn't work)