NSSM: The Non-Sucking Service Manager\r
-Version 2.16, 2012-12-01\r
+Version 2.21, 2013-11-24\r
\r
NSSM is a service helper program similar to srvany and cygrunsrv. It can \r
start any application as an NT service and will restart the service if it \r
simulating a Control-C keypress. If they have installed a handler routine\r
they can clean up and shut down gracefully on receipt of the event.\r
\r
+Since version 2.17, NSSM can redirect the managed application's I/O streams\r
+to an arbitrary path.\r
+\r
+Since version 2.18, NSSM can be configured to wait a user-specified amount\r
+of time for the application to exit when shutting down.\r
+\r
+Since version 2.19, many more service options can be configured with the\r
+GUI installer as well as via the registry.\r
+\r
+Since version 2.19, NSSM can add to the service's environment by setting\r
+AppEnvironmentExtra in place of or in addition to the srvany-compatible\r
+AppEnvironment.\r
+\r
+\r
Usage\r
-----\r
In the usage notes below, arguments to the program may be written in angle \r
\r
Don't forget to enclose paths in "quotes" if they contain spaces!\r
\r
+If you want to include quotes in the options you will need to """quote""" the\r
+quotes.\r
+\r
\r
Managing the service\r
--------------------\r
If only the default action is set to Suicide NSSM will instead exit gracefully.\r
\r
\r
+Stopping the service\r
+--------------------\r
+When stopping a service NSSM will attempt several different methods of killing\r
+the monitored application, each of which can be disabled if necessary.\r
+\r
+First NSSM will attempt to generate a Control-C event and send it to the\r
+application's console. Batch scripts or console applications may intercept\r
+the event and shut themselves down gracefully. GUI applications do not have\r
+consoles and will not respond to this method.\r
+\r
+Secondly NSSM will enumerate all windows created by the application and send\r
+them a WM_CLOSE message, requesting a graceful exit.\r
+\r
+Thirdly NSSM will enumerate all threads created by the application and send\r
+them a WM_QUIT message, requesting a graceful exit. Not all applications'\r
+threads have message queues; those which do not will not respond to this\r
+method.\r
+\r
+Finally NSSM will call TerminateProcess() to request that the operating\r
+system forcibly terminate the application. TerminateProcess() cannot be\r
+trapped or ignored, so in most circumstances the application will be killed.\r
+However, there is no guarantee that it will have a chance to perform any\r
+tidyup operations before it exits.\r
+\r
+Any or all of the methods above may be disabled. NSSM will look for the\r
+HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<service>\Parameters\AppStopMethodSkip\r
+registry value which should be of type REG_DWORD set to a bit field describing\r
+which methods should not be applied.\r
+\r
+ If AppStopMethodSkip includes 1, Control-C events will not be generated.\r
+ If AppStopMethodSkip includes 2, WM_CLOSE messages will not be posted.\r
+ If AppStopMethodSkip includes 4, WM_QUIT messages will not be posted.\r
+ If AppStopMethodSkip includes 8, TerminateProcess() will not be called.\r
+\r
+If, for example, you knew that an application did not respond to Control-C\r
+events and did not have a thread message queue, you could set AppStopMethodSkip\r
+to 5 and NSSM would not attempt to use those methods to stop the application.\r
+\r
+Take great care when including 8 in the value of AppStopMethodSkip. If NSSM\r
+does not call TerminateProcess() it is possible that the application will not\r
+exit when the service stops.\r
+\r
+By default NSSM will allow processes 1500ms to respond to each of the methods\r
+described above before proceeding to the next one. The timeout can be\r
+configured on a per-method basis by creating REG_DWORD entries in the\r
+registry under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<service>\Parameters.\r
+\r
+ AppStopMethodConsole\r
+ AppStopMethodWindow\r
+ AppStopMethodThreads\r
+\r
+Each value should be set to the number of milliseconds to wait. Please note\r
+that the timeout applies to each process in the application's process tree,\r
+so the actual time to shutdown may be longer than the sum of all configured\r
+timeouts if the application spawns multiple subprocesses.\r
+\r
+\r
+I/O redirection\r
+---------------\r
+NSSM can redirect the managed application's I/O to any path capable of being\r
+opened by CreateFile(). This enables, for example, capturing the log output\r
+of an application which would otherwise only write to the console or accepting\r
+input from a serial port.\r
+\r
+NSSM will look in the registry under\r
+HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<service>\Parameters for the keys\r
+corresponding to arguments to CreateFile(). All are optional. If no path is\r
+given for a particular stream it will not be redirected. If a path is given\r
+but any of the other values are omitted they will be receive sensible defaults.\r
+\r
+ AppStdin: Path to receive input.\r
+ AppStdout: Path to receive output.\r
+ AppStderr: Path to receive error output.\r
+\r
+Parameters for CreateFile() are providing with the "AppStdinShareMode",\r
+"AppStdinCreationDisposition" and "AppStdinFlagsAndAttributes" values (and\r
+analogously for stdout and stderr).\r
+\r
+In general, if you want the service to log its output, set AppStdout and\r
+AppStderr to the same path, eg C:\Users\Public\service.log, and it should\r
+work. Remember, however, that the path must be accessible to the user\r
+running the service.\r
+\r
+\r
+Environment variables\r
+---------------------\r
+NSSM can replace or append to the managed application's environment. Two\r
+multi-valued string (REG_MULTI_SZ) registry values are recognised under\r
+HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<service>\Parameters.\r
+\r
+AppEnvironment defines a list of environment variables which will override\r
+the service's environment. AppEnvironmentExtra defines a list of\r
+environment variables which will be added to the service's environment.\r
+\r
+Each entry in the list should be of the form KEY=VALUE. It is possible to\r
+omit the VALUE but the = symbol is mandatory.\r
+\r
+srvany only supports AppEnvironment.\r
+\r
+\r
Removing services using the GUI\r
-------------------------------\r
NSSM can also remove services. Run\r
Thanks to Riccardo Gusmeroli for Italian translation.\r
Thanks to Eric Cheldelin for the inspiration to generate a Control-C event\r
on shutdown.\r
+Thanks to Brian Baxter for suggesting how to escape quotes from the command prompt.\r
+Thanks to Russ Holmann for suggesting that the shutdown timeout be configurable.\r
+Thanks to Paul Spause for spotting a bug with default registry entries.\r
+Thanks to BUGHUNTER for spotting more GUI bugs.\r
\r
Licence\r
-------\r