Reaper

“reaper” utilizes the reap package to build an executable intermediary process runner. This runner is meant to be executed by other Go programs, in order to create detached processes for them.

Installation

Run go get github.com/foresthoffman/reaper

In order for the reaper executable to work, you must have $GOPATH/bin in your $PATH environment variable.

Importing

This package is not a library. It provides an executable that can be used by other programs, therefore importing it doesn’t do anything.

Usage

Here’s a simple example of the syntax:

package main
import (
    "bytes"
    "fmt"
    "os/exec"
    "strconv"
)
func main() {
    // prepare a buffer, to which the PID will be written
    var stdout bytes.Buffer
    // prepare the command
    sleepCmd := exec.Command("reaper", "-cmd='sleep'", "-args='30'")
    sleepCmd.Stdout = &stdout
    // run the command
    err := sleepCmd.Run()
    if nil != err {
        panic(err)
    }
    // convert the PID string to a valid integer
    pidInt, err := strconv.ParseInt(stdout.String(), 10, 64)
    if nil != err {
        panic(err)
    }
    pid := int(pidInt)
    fmt.Printf("Created a detached process with an ID of %d!\n", pid)
}

That’s all, enjoy!