log file vs fork

[Hal Murray]

setup_logfile() in libntp/msyslog.c says:
 * This routine is invoked three different times in the sequence of a
 * typical daemon ntpd with DNS lookups to do.  First it is invoked in
 * the original ntpd process, then again in the daemon after closing
 * all descriptors.  In both of those cases, ntp.conf has not been
 * processed, so only -l/--logfile will trigger logfile redirection in
 * those invocations.  Finally, if DNS names are resolved, the worker
 * child invokes this routine after its fork and close of all
 * descriptors.  In this case, ntp.conf has been processed and any
 * "logfile" directive needs to be honored in the child as well.

That says "fork" and "DNS" in the same sentence.
The DNS code now uses a thread.  The only fork() is in ntpd.c
I assume the above comment is out of date.
  Please sing out if there is something interesting going on.
The NTS_KE server also uses threads.

Can somebody give me a lesson in why a program should close all it's 
descriptors?
We can clean up a lot of crufty code if we drop that.




-- 
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