daemon without pcntl_fork

Does anybody know how to use PHP as a daemon without the use of pcntl_fork. http://php.net/pcntl_fork I don't want to have to have a person have a special/custom compilation of PHP just to run a simple daemon. My system: OpenBSD 4.5 w/PHP v5.2.8 I want to launch a daemon out of the /etc/rc.local when the system starts. My goal is to write a script that will be launched from /etc/rc.local when a system boots. I want it to be detached from any shell or ssh login that I launch it from also. Anybody have any idea on how to do this? I have played with system() and it does work. test.php: <?php echo 'Starting'; system('/usr/local/bin/php test_cli.php >/dev/null &'); echo 'Done'; ?> test_cli.php <?php for( $i=1; $i<=10; $i++ ) { echo "Echo {$i}\n"; sleep(1); } echo 'Done'; ?> The above, when called, launches test_cli.php and detaches it from the cli and returns to the system prompt Well, after writing all this out, I think I have answered by own question. If anybody else has a better suggestion, I am all ears. If you have a better way of doing it, please share. Also, a second piece to this would be a script to manage (start/stop/restart/etc...) the parent daemon. Something along the line of apachectl or similar. TIA! Update to the last email also. I found another device that does RS232 to ethernet: http://www.hw-group.com/products/portstore2/index_en.html Anybody work with one of these? Again, thanks! Jim Lucas