we need to daemonize *before* opening the watchdog device
diff --git a/miscutils/watchdog.c b/miscutils/watchdog.c
index 893cef0..e334d01 100644
--- a/miscutils/watchdog.c
+++ b/miscutils/watchdog.c
@@ -45,6 +45,15 @@
opt_complementary = "=1"; /* must have exactly 1 argument */
opts = getopt32(argv, "Ft:T:", &st_arg, &ht_arg);
+ /* We need to daemonize *before* opening the watchdog as many drivers
+ * will only allow one process at a time to do so. Since daemonizing
+ * is not perfect (child may run before parent finishes exiting), we
+ * can't rely on parent exiting before us (let alone *cleanly* releasing
+ * the watchdog fd -- something else that may not even be allowed).
+ */
+ if (!(opts & OPT_FOREGROUND))
+ bb_daemonize_or_rexec(DAEMON_CHDIR_ROOT, argv);
+
if (opts & OPT_HTIMER)
htimer_duration = xatou_sfx(ht_arg, suffixes);
stimer_duration = htimer_duration / 2;
@@ -76,10 +85,6 @@
stimer_duration, htimer_duration * 1000);
#endif
- if (!(opts & OPT_FOREGROUND)) {
- bb_daemonize_or_rexec(DAEMON_CHDIR_ROOT, argv);
- }
-
while (1) {
/*
* Make sure we clear the counter before sleeping,