Index: gearmand/gearmand/gearmand.cc
===================================================================
--- gearmand.orig/gearmand/gearmand.cc	2011-05-26 10:26:21.665386640 -0400
+++ gearmand/gearmand/gearmand.cc	2011-05-26 10:36:31.519348192 -0400
@@ -204,7 +204,11 @@
 
   if (opt_daemon)
   {
-    gearmand::daemonize(false, true);
+    // pid_t pid= getpid();
+    // std::cerr << std::endl << pid << " about to spawn child" << std::endl;
+    gearmand::daemonize(true, true, true);
+    // pid= getpid();
+    // std::cerr << pid << " returned from daemonize" << std::endl;
   }
 
   if ((fds > 0 && _set_fdlimit(fds))
@@ -214,8 +218,13 @@
     return EXIT_FAILURE;
   }
 
-  if (opt_daemon)
-    gearmand::daemon_is_ready(verbose_count == 0);
+  if (opt_daemon) {
+    // pid_t pid= getpid();
+    // std::cerr << std::endl << pid << " about to spawn grandchild" << std::endl;
+    gearmand::daemonize(true, false, true);
+    // pid= getpid();
+    // std::cerr << pid << " returned from daemonize" << std::endl;
+  }
 
   gearmand_verbose_t verbose= verbose_count > static_cast<int>(GEARMAND_VERBOSE_CRAZY) ? GEARMAND_VERBOSE_CRAZY : static_cast<gearmand_verbose_t>(verbose_count);
 
@@ -271,6 +280,14 @@
     return EXIT_FAILURE;
   }
 
+  if (opt_daemon)
+  {
+    // pid_t pid= getpid();
+    // std::cerr << pid << " about to signal parent that I'm up and running" << std::endl;
+    gearmand::daemon_is_ready();
+    // std::cerr << pid << " parent process should have exited (making its parent process exit, too)" << std::endl;
+  }
+
   gearmand_error_t ret;
   ret= gearmand_run(_gearmand);
 
Index: gearmand/util/daemon.cc
===================================================================
--- gearmand.orig/util/daemon.cc	2011-05-26 10:26:21.653386442 -0400
+++ gearmand/util/daemon.cc	2011-05-26 10:35:44.950587857 -0400
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@
 
 #include <util/daemon.h>
 
+// #include <iostream>
+
 namespace gearmand
 {
 
@@ -59,121 +61,100 @@
 
 static void sigusr1_handler(int sig)
 {
-  if (sig == SIGUSR1)
-  {
+  if (sig == SIGUSR1) {
+    pid_t pid= getpid();
+    // std::cerr << pid << " got USR1 signal" << std::endl;
     _exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
   }
 }
 
 }
 
-bool daemon_is_ready(bool close_io)
+void daemon_is_ready()
 {
   kill(parent_pid, SIGUSR1);
-
-  if (not close_io)
-    return true;;
-
-  int fd;
-  if ((fd = open("/dev/null", O_RDWR, 0)) < 0)
-  {
-    perror("open");
-    return false;
-  }
-  else
-  {
-    if(dup2(fd, STDIN_FILENO) < 0)
-    {
-      perror("dup2 stdin");
-      return false;
-    }
-
-    if(dup2(fd, STDOUT_FILENO) < 0)
-    {
-      perror("dup2 stdout");
-      return false;
-    }
-
-    if(dup2(fd, STDERR_FILENO) < 0)
-    {
-      perror("dup2 stderr");
-      return false;
-    }
-
-    if (fd > STDERR_FILENO)
-    {
-      if (close(fd) < 0)
-      {
-        perror("close");
-        return false;
-      }
-    }
-  }
-
-  return true;
 }
 
-#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wold-style-cast"
-
-bool daemonize(bool is_chdir, bool wait_sigusr1)
+bool daemonize(bool nochdir, bool noclose, bool wait_sigusr1)
 {
-  pid_t child= -1;
-
-  parent_pid= getpid();
-  signal(SIGUSR1, sigusr1_handler);
+    int fd;
+    pid_t child= -1;
 
-  child= fork();
-
-  switch (child)
-  {
-  case -1:
-    return false;
+    parent_pid= getpid();
+    signal(SIGUSR1, sigusr1_handler);
 
-  case 0:
-    break;
+    child= fork();
 
-  default:
-    if (wait_sigusr1)
-    {
-      /* parent */
-      int exit_code= EXIT_FAILURE;
-      int status;
-      while (waitpid(child, &status, 0) != child)
-      { }
-
-      if (WIFEXITED(status))
+    switch (child)
+    {
+    case -1:
+        return true;
+    case 0:
+        break;
+    default:
+      // std::cerr << parent_pid << " has child " << child << std::endl;
+      if (wait_sigusr1)
       {
-        exit_code= WEXITSTATUS(status);
+        /* parent */
+        int exit_code= -1;
+        int status;
+        // std::cerr << parent_pid << " is waiting on child " << child << std::endl;
+        while (waitpid(child, &status, 0) != child)
+        { }
+
+        // std::cerr << parent_pid << " had child " << child << " exit with status " << status << std::endl;
+
+        if (WIFEXITED(status))
+        {
+          exit_code= WEXITSTATUS(status);
+        }
+        if (WIFSIGNALED(status))
+        {
+          exit_code= -1;
+        }
+
+        // std::cerr << parent_pid << " exiting with status " << exit_code << std::endl;
+        _exit(exit_code);
       }
-      if (WIFSIGNALED(status))
+      else
       {
-        exit_code= EXIT_FAILURE;
+        _exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
       }
-      _exit(exit_code);
-    }
-    else
-    {
-      _exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
     }
-  }
-
-  /* child */
-  if (setsid() == -1)
-  {
-    perror("setsid");
-    return false;
-  }
 
-  if (is_chdir)
-  {
-    if (chdir("/") < 0)
-    {
-      perror("chdir");
-      return false;
+    /* child */
+    if (setsid() == -1)
+        return true;
+
+    if (nochdir == 0) {
+        if(chdir("/") != 0) {
+            perror("chdir");
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (noclose == 0 && (fd = open("/dev/null", O_RDWR, 0)) != -1) {
+        if(dup2(fd, STDIN_FILENO) < 0) {
+            perror("dup2 stdin");
+            return true;
+        }
+        if(dup2(fd, STDOUT_FILENO) < 0) {
+            perror("dup2 stdout");
+            return true;
+        }
+        if(dup2(fd, STDERR_FILENO) < 0) {
+            perror("dup2 stderr");
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        if (fd > STDERR_FILENO) {
+            if(close(fd) < 0) {
+                perror("close");
+                return true;
+            }
+        }
     }
-  }
-
-  return true; 
+    return false;
 }
 
-} /* namespace drizzled */
+} /* namespace gearmand */
Index: gearmand/util/daemon.h
===================================================================
--- gearmand.orig/util/daemon.h	2011-05-26 10:26:21.661386574 -0400
+++ gearmand/util/daemon.h	2011-05-26 10:35:10.958032929 -0400
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@
 namespace gearmand
 {
 
-bool daemon_is_ready(bool close_io);
-bool daemonize(bool is_chdir= true, bool wait_sigusr1= true);
+bool daemonize(bool nochdir= true, bool noclose= true, bool wait_sigusr1= true);
+void daemon_is_ready();
 
 }
+