setsid – Run a program in a new session

The setsid command is used to run a program in a new session. A session is a group of processes that share the same controlling terminal. When you run a program with setsid, it starts in a new session and gets a new controlling terminal. This means that the program will continue to run even if the terminal from which it was started is closed.

Overview

The syntax for using the setsid command is as follows:

setsid program [arguments...]

Here, program is the name of the program you want to run, and arguments are any arguments you want to pass to the program.

For example, to run the ls command in a new session, you would use the following command:

setsid ls

This would start a new session and run the ls command in that session.

Use cases

The setsid command is particularly useful when you want to run a program that will continue to run even if you log out of the system or close the terminal. This is because the program is started in a new session and gets a new controlling terminal.

Another use case is when you want to run a program that needs to be disconnected from the terminal. For example, if you want to run a program that will take a long time to complete and you don’t want to tie up your terminal while it’s running, you can use setsid to start the program in a new session.

Options

The setsid command has the following options:

Troubleshooting tips

If you’re having trouble running a program with setsid, there are a few things you can try:

• Make sure you’re using the correct syntax for the command.
• Check to see if the program you’re trying to run is installed on your system.
• If you’re using the -w option and the program isn’t exiting, try adding the --nohup option to the command. This will prevent the program from receiving a SIGHUP signal when you log out or close the terminal.

Notes

• The setsid command is not available on all Linux distributions. If it’s not available on your system, you can try using the nohup command instead.