Daemon???

[Dooling37]

Could somebody please explain to me what exactly, a 'daemon' is, in the UNIX world.
I've heard / read the word a million times, and I think I get a general idea what it is (or at least what it does), but no index ever actually defines it.

For example, I recently read this sentence:
"...when a client requests a connection on an UNIX server, a daemon such as inet.d handles the request, running the appropriate server..."

If anyone could explain this more specifically, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you.

 

[twikoff]

the short answer is a server
need a longer answer?

 

[Ladi]

the short answer is 'a background operation/application/service that performs a specified task'

The Windows equivalent is a service or agent.

~Ladi

 

[Zach]

Imagine that each program is a furry little demon guy sitting in the memory, doing his own thing. WOrks for me. 😀

 

[Dooling37]

Thanks for the replies, all.
That cleared it up, at least enough for me. 😉

 

[DaHitman]

<< Could somebody please explain to me what exactly, a 'daemon' is, in the UNIX world.
I've heard / read the word a million times, and I think I get a general idea what it is (or at least what it does), but no index ever actually defines it.

For example, I recently read this sentence:
&quot;...when a client requests a connection on an UNIX server, a daemon such as inet.d handles the request, running the appropriate server...&quot;

If anyone could explain this more specifically, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you. >>




Its a program that runs in the background and performs a task of some sort... either waiting for connections or doing something like flushing data to disk.

 

[gcy]

its the little people inside the computer doing errands for you 😀