Run bat as windows service

SvcBatch: Overview

SvcBatch is a program that allows users to run script files as Windows service.

The program’s main goal is to run any application as a Windows
service by using a batch file wrapper as an application launcher.
This is particularly useful when running Java applications or
for scripts written in Perl, Python, Ruby, etc… without the need
for a specialized service wrapper.

SvcBatch was designed to be simple to use and lightweight, with a small
memory footprint. Its only dependency is win32 API, and only has
around 8K lines of C code. There are no configuration
files or installation requirements, so it can be easily distributed
alongside any application that requires Windows service functionality.

Read the rest of the documentation and check Examples
for some overview and ideas how to use and deploy SvcBatch
with your application.

• Github: https://github.com/mturk/svcbatch
• Docs: Documentation

Table of Contents

• SvcBatch: Overview
• Table of Contents
• Getting Started
  • Supported Windows Versions
  • Building SvcBatch
  • Creating Services
  • Managing Services
  • Debugging Services
• Examples
• Main Features
  • Log Rotation
  • Command Line Options
  • Private Environment Variables
  • Stop and Shutdown
  • Version Information
  • Error Logging
• Limitations
• License

Getting Started

Supported Windows Versions

The minimum supported version is Windows 7 SP1 or
Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit.

Building SvcBatch

To build the SvcBatch from source code follow the
directions explained in Building document.
SvcBatch is targeted for Windows 64-bit versions, so make sure
to use 64-bit compiler.

Creating Services

Starting with version 3.0.0 SvcBatch has a Service management
code that contains a subset of Microsoft’s sc.exe utility to
create, configure, manage, and delete services.
Check the managing section for some basic
guidelines.

By default SvcBatch uses System’s cmd.exe as a shell to run a batch file.
Thus the batch file is an actual service application from a
conceptual point of view.

The batch file should behave like a service and must never
exit. Any exit is treated as an error because from the SCM
(Service Control Manager) point of view it is the same
as a service failure. On Stop or Shutdown events signaled
by SCM, SvcBatch will send a CTRL_C signal to cmd.exe, as
if a user hit Ctrl+C keys in interactive console session.

The simplest way to create a service for your batch file
is to put svcbatch.exe in the same directory where your
myservice.bat file is located. Open the command prompt and
type something like this…

> svcbatch create myservice

… or using SC utility

> sc create myservice binPath= ""%cd%\svcbatch.exe" myservice.bat"

Check Examples section for more
detailed usage.

• Modifying services

  Once installed you can edit the ImagePath value
  from the service’s registry key:

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\myservice

  In case the service was installed using SvcBatch, additional
  Parameters sub key is created under the service’s
  registry key that contains arguments SvcBatch will merge at
  runtime with the value of ImagePath.

  The changes made, will be used next the service starts.

• Starting services

  To manually start the service use either svcbatch, sc
  or Microsoft Services GUI application.

  SvcBatch will append any additional arguments from the
  service start application to the script file’s existing arguments
  defined at install time.

  Since SvcBatch version 3.0.0, you can use the
  SvcBatch itself to start the service.

  > svcbatch create myservice myservice.bat param1
  
  ...
  
  > svcbatch start myservice param2 param3
  
  

  When started the myservice.bat will receive param1 param2 param3
  as arguments.

• Notice

  If the program started from a service batch file creates
  its own child processes, ensure you setup the following
  privileges to the service:

  > svcbatch configure myservice --privs=SeDebugPrivilege
  
  

  This will allow SvcBatch to terminate the entire
  descendant process tree on shutdown in case the
  child process creates a process with different
  security credentials.

  Also check the Managing Services
  section for further guidelines.

Managing Services

To get an overview on how to create and manage
SvcBatch services, check the managing
section for some basic guidelines.

Debugging Services

Debugging a service can be a complex task, because the services
run without interacting with the user.

In case your service fails without apparent reason, first check
the Windows Event Log.

The next option is to use debug build of the SvcBatch.
Download or build svcbatch.exe compiled with _DEBUG=1 option
and replace the svcbatch.exe with this binary.

Debug version of SvcBatch will create a svcbatch_debug.log file
inside the TEMP directory of the current service user account.

The typical content of the svcbatch_debug.log file might
look something like the following:

The format of this log file is:

[ProcessId:ThreadId:MonthDayYear/HourMinuteSecond.Millisecond:Mode:FunctionName(line)] message

If the svcbatch_debug.log file already exists, debug messages will
be appended to the end of the file.

You can rename svcbatch.exe executable to myservice.exe
and modify service ImagePath registry value. When the service
start, SvcBatch will use myservice_debug.log as log file.
This can be useful when multiple service share the same SvcBatch executable.

Examples

To get an overview on how the SvcBatch is used with the real
application, check the documentation
section for some basic deployment guideline.

Main Features

Here are listed some of the main features provided by
SvcBatch.

Log Rotation

By default SvcBatch, on startup, creates a Logs directory inside its
working directory and creates an SvcBatch.log file that is used both
for internal logging and capturing output from cmd.exe

It also renames previous log files if the files are
present inside Logs directory using the following procedure:

* If exists move SvcBatch.log to SvcBatch.log.0
* If exists move SvcBatch.log.8 to SvcBatch.log.9

  This means that SvcBatch.log.9 will be overwritten, so make sure
  to backup SvcBatch.log.9 before log rotation occurs if needed

* If exists move SvcBatch.log.7 to SvcBatch.log.8
* ...
* ...
* If exists move SvcBatch.log.1 to SvcBatch.log.2
* If exists move SvcBatch.log.0 to SvcBatch.log.1
* Create new SvcBatch.log and use it as current log file.

Command Line Options

SvcBatch command line options allow users to customize
service deployments. Options are case insensitive and
defined with / or — as command switch when running in
service mode, or with — for SvcBatch service management.
This means that -h or /H and --Wait or --wait
can be used interchangeably.

Check the managing for more info about
command line options when SvcBatch is used for managing services.

Command line option value can be either the rest of the
command option or the entire next argument.

In case the value is the rest of the command option,
the command switch must be / and the
character after the option must be : character,
followed by the actual option value.

For example:

> svcbatch create myService ... /L:log\directory ...

Is the same as

> svcbatch create myService ... -l log\directory ...

After handling switches SvcBatch will pass remaining
arguments to the script interpreter.

The first argument is treated as script file.
If the first argument is not the absolute path, it will
be resolved relative to the service home directory.

If there are no additional arguments, SvcBatch will
append .bat to the running Service Name.
In that case, if ServiceName contain any of the
invalid file name characters /\:;<>?*|",
the service will fail and error message will be
reported to Windows Event log.

Although command options are case insensitive,
use capital letters with / command switch,
and lowercase letters with — command switch.

• F [features]

  Set runtime features

  This option sets various runtime features.
  The features parameter is a combination of
  one or more characters, where each character sets
  the particular feature option.

  Feature options are case sensitive, and can be
  listed in any order.

      <B><L><N><P><Q><R><T><W><Y><0|1|2>
  

  • B

    Generate CTRL_BREAK on service stop

    This option can be used to send ctrl+break instead ctrl+c
    signal when the service is stopping.

    This is useful when the service batch file uses start /B ...
    to launch multiple applications.

    ...
    start /B some.exe instance1
    start /B some.exe instance2
    start /B some.exe instance3
    ...
    

    When using start /B application, the application does
    not receive ctrl+c signal. The ctrl+break is the only
    way to interrupt the application.

  • L

    Use local time

    This option causes all logging and rotation
    to use local instead system time.

  • P

    Enable preshutdown service notification

    When defined, SvcBatch will accept SERVICE_CONTROL_PRESHUTDOWN control code.
    The service control manager waits until the service stops or the specified
    preshutdown time-out value expires

  • Q

    Disable logging

    This option disables both logging and log rotation.

    Use this option when output from script file is not needed or
    service batch file manages logging on its own.

    Notice

    Any eventual log rotation option will not be processed.

  • R

    Enable log rotation by control code

    When defined, SvcBatch will accept custom 234
    control code and initiate log rotation when this control
    is signaled.

    Note that 234 is our custom service control code.
    Number 234 has been randomly chosen, since win32
    API requires that this number must be larger then 127 and
    lower then 255.

    To initiate log rotation manually use the following:

    > svcbatch control myService 234
    
    

    In case the last log rotation was less then 2 minutes ago,
    or if there was no data written to the log file from the last
    rotation, SvcBatch will not rotate the logs.

  • T

    Truncate log on rotation

    If set this option will truncate existing
    log file on log rotation instead creating
    a new log file.

  • Y

    Write Y to child console

    If set this option will write Y\r\n characters to script interpreter’s
    console standard input.

    This option is enabled by default when cmd.exe is used,
    and handles Terminate batch job (Y/N)? prompt.

  • 0

    Flags [0|1|2] determine how the SvcBatch will handle
    service failure in case it enters a STOP state
    without explicit Stop command from the SCM.

    This mode will set the error code when the service
    fails. The error message will be written to
    the Windows Event log and service will enter a stop state.

    If the service was in RUNNING state the error
    code will be set to ERROR_PROCESS_ABORTED, otherwise
    the error code will be set to ERROR_SERVICE_START_HANG.

    You can use this mode to initialize service recovery if
    defined.

    
    > sc failure myService reset= INFINITE actions= restart/10000
    
    > sc failureflag myService 1
    
    

    The upper example will restart myService service after 10
    seconds if it enters a stop state without Stop command.

    This is the default mode.

  • 1

    This mode will not set the error code when the service
    fails. The information message will be written to
    the Windows Event log and service will enter a stop state.

    The typical usage of this feature is for the services
    that run for some time and then stop.

  • 2

    This mode will not report error code to the SCM when
    the service fails. The error message will be written to
    the Windows Event log.
    SvcBatch will call exit(ERROR_INVALID_LEVEL) and terminate
    the current service.

• C [program][<[> parameters <]>]

  Use alternative program for running scripts

  This option allows to use alternative program program
  instead default cmd.exe to run the scripts.

  For example:

  > svcbatch create ... /C:[ powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File ] myservice.ps1 ...
  
  

  SvcBatch will execute powershell.exe instead cmd.exe and pass
  [ parameters ] as arguments to the powershell.

  Additional parameters for alternative shell must be enclosed
  inside square brackets before script file and its arguments.

  Parameters for default cmd.exe interpreter
  are /D /E:ON /V:OFF /C.

  > svcbatch create ... /C:cmd.exe [ /D /E:ON /V:OFF /C ] myservice.bat ...
  
  

  If the program parameter contains any @ or % characters,
  SvcBatch will evaluate all environment strings in the program parameter
  and use it as application name.

  In case the program parameter is not an absolute path,
  SvcBatch will search the current environment for the program[.exe]
  application.

• K [depth]

  Set the nested process kill depth

  This option sets the depth of the process
  tree that SvcBatch will kill on service stop.

  The valid depth range is between 0
  and 4. By default this value is set to zero.

  This option is used only when manually stopping the
  service. In case the service STOP is initiated by
  system shutdown, SvcBatch will not traverse its
  process tree, but rather let the operating system
  to kill all child processes.

  Use this option if the service script file creates
  a process that do not respond to STOP command, but
  keeps running in the background.

• E [name=value]

  Sets environment variable

  This option allows to set the contents of the specified
  environment variable. The content of the name environment
  variable is to the value.

  For example:

  > svcbatch create ... /E:NOPAUSE=Y /E:CATALINA_BASE=$WORK ...
  
  

  This will set the NOPAUSE environment variable to Y,
  and CATALINA_BASE to the value of the current working
  directory.

  SvcBatch will evaluate value parameter and replace each
  $variable string with corresponding runtime value.

  If the $variable does not exits, it will be replaced by
  empty string.

  The $WORK will be evaluated to the current working directory,
  $NAME will set the value to the current Service name, etc.

  The runtime variable values are:

  
    APPLICATION Program application path
    BASENAME    Program application name
    DISPLAYNAME Service display name
    HOME        Home directory
    LOGS        Logs directory
    NAME        Service Name
    RELEASE     SvcBatch release version
    UUUID       Service UUID
    VERSION     SvcBatch version number
    WORK        Work directory
  
  

  The following example will modify PATH environment
  variable for the current process:

  > svcbatch create ... -e "PATH=$ProgramFiles\SomeApplication;$PATH" ...
  
  

  In the upper example, each $variable will be evaluated
  to the current runtime value.

  Each $$ character pair will be replaced by the
  single $ character. This allows to use $ characters
  as part of value without evaluating them.

  > svcbatch create ... /E "SOME_VARIABLE=RUN$$1" ...
  
  

  In the upper example, SvcBatch will set SOME_VARIABLE
  environment variable to the value RUN$1.

  SvcBatch will evaluate E command options in order they
  are defined in service configuration.

  SvcBatch will first set all
  Private Environment Variables

  After that it will evaluate and set all /E:name=value variables.

• EE [variables]

  Export private environment variables

  This option exports various runtime environment variables.
  The variables parameter is a combination of
  one or more characters, where each character sets
  the particular environment variable.

  Variables are case sensitive, and can be
  listed in any order.

  
    A   Program application
    B   Program application name
    D   Service display name
    H   Home directory
    L   Logs directory
    N   Service Name
    R   SvcBatch release version
    U   Service UUID
    V   SvcBatch version number
    W   Work directory
  
  

  Each variable name will be evaluated at runtime
  using either default or prefix or the one defined
  by the /EP:PREFIX command option.

  
    A  ...  [PREFIX]_APPLICATION
    B  ...  [PREFIX]_BASENAME
    D  ...  [PREFIX]_DISPLAYNAME
    H  ...  [PREFIX]_HOME
    L  ...  [PREFIX]_LOGS
    N  ...  [PREFIX]_NAME
    R  ...  [PREFIX]_RELEASE
    U  ...  [PREFIX]_UUID
    V  ...  [PREFIX]_VERSION
    W  ...  [PREFIX]_WORK
  
  

  The following example will export SVCBATCH_PROCESSID
  and SVCBATCH_VERSION environment variables with the
  values set to their corresponding runtime values.

  > svcbatch create ... /EE:PV ...
  
  

  This feature is usually used to export specific runtime variable(s).

  The following example will only export service’s home
  and work directories as MYSERVICE_HOME and MYSERVICE_WORK
  environment variables:

  > svcbatch create myService ... /EP:@ /EE:HW ...
  
  

• EP [prefix]

  Sets private environment variables prefix

  By default SvcBatch uses uppercase program name as prefix
  for private environment variables names.

  Check Private Environment Variables
  section, for the list of exported variables.

  To change default SVCBATCH prefix, add
  /EP:prefix to your service configuration.

  The following example will cause SvcBatch to
  export ASERVICE_NAME instead default SVCBATCH_NAME, etc.

  > svcbatch create ... /EP:ASERVICE ...
  
  

  In case the prefix is a single @ character,
  SvcBatch will use service name as private environment prefix.

  The following example will cause SvcBatch to
  export MYSERVICE_NAME instead default SVCBATCH_NAME, etc.

  > svcbatch create myService ... /EP:@ ...
  
  

• H [path]

  Set service home directory

  This option enables users to explicitly set the
  home directory.

  The home directory is the location from where all relative
  path parameters will be resolved.

  If not specified, the home directory will set to the
  path of the batch file if it was defined
  as an absolute path. Otherwise the directory of the svcbatch.exe
  will be used as home directory.

  In case the path is relative, it will be resolved
  either to the directory of the batch file, if it was
  defined as an absolute path, or to the directory of the
  svcbatch executable.

  The resulting path value must exist on the system
  or the service will fail to start, and write an error message
  to the Windows Event log.

• L [path]

  Set service log directory

  This option allows a user to set the log directory, which is where
  SvcBatch will create any runtime log files.

  If set, the path parameter will be used as the
  location where SvcBatch.log files will be created.
  SvcBatch will create a path directory if it doesn’t exist.

  If not set, SvcBatch will create and use the SVCBATCH_WORK\Logs
  directory as a location for log files that has to be created.

  If the path is not the absolute path, it will
  be resolved relative to the W directory.

  Notice

  This directory has to be unique for each service instance. Otherwise the
  service will fail if another service already opened SvacBatch.log
  in that location.

• LN [name]

  Set log file name

  This option allows a user to set the alternate log file names.

  By default SvcBatch will use SvcBatch.log as name.
  To redefine default log name use the LN
  command option at service install:

  > svcbatch create ... /LN:myService.log ...
  
  

  If the name parameter contains @ characters,
  it will be treated as a format string
  to our custom strftime function.

  When using strftime filename formatting, be sure the
  log file name format has enough granularity to produce a different
  file name each time the logs are rotated. Otherwise rotation
  will overwrite the same file instead of starting a new one.
  For example, if logfile was service.@Y-@m-@d.log with log rotation
  at 5 megabytes, but 5 megabytes was reached twice in the same day,
  the same log file name would be produced and log rotation would
  overwrite the same file.

  Supported formatting codes

  Here are listed the supported formatting codes:

    @d  Day of month as a decimal number (01 - 31)
    @F  Equivalent to @Y-@m-@d
    @H  Hour in 24-hour format (00 - 23)
    @j  Day of the year as a decimal number (001 - 366)
    @m  Month as a decimal number (01 - 12)
    @M  Minute as a decimal number (00 - 59)
    @S  Second as a decimal number (00 - 59)
    @s  Millisecond as a decimal number (000 - 999)
    @w  Weekday as a decimal number (0 - 6; Sunday is 0)
    @y  Year without century, as decimal number (00 - 99)
    @Y  Year with century, as decimal number
    @0  Current counter as a decimal number (0    -    9)
    @2  Current counter as a decimal number (00   -   99)
    @4  Current counter as a decimal number (0000 - 9999)
  
  

  Make sure that log names contain only valid file name characters.
  The following are reserved characters:

    <  (less than)
    >  (greater than)
    :  (colon)
    ;  (semicolon)
    "  (double quote)
    /  (forward slash)
    \  (backslash)
    |  (vertical bar or pipe)
    ?  (question mark)
    *  (asterisk)
  

  In case the result from strftime contains any of the reserved
  characters the function will fail.

• LM [number]

  Set maximum number of log files

  In case the number contains a single decimal number
  between 1 and 9 it will be used instead default 1 .. 2.

  > svcbatch create ... /LM:4
  
  

  Instead rotating Svcbatch.log from 1 .. 2 it will rotate
  exiting log files from 1 .. 4..

• LR [rule]

  Rotate logs by size or time interval

  Depending on the rule parameter service can rotate
  log files at desired interval, once a day at specific time
  or when log file gets larger then defined size.

  Time and size values can be combined, which allows
  to rotate logs at specific time or size which ever first.
  For example one can define rule so that rotate logs
  is run each day at 17:00:00 hours or if log files gets
  larger then 100K bytes.

  To combine multiple values use the + character as
  value separator. The order is important.

  > svcbatch create ... /LR:@17:00:00+100K
  
  

  If time is given without a colons, SvcBatch will use it
  as minutes between log rotation.

  >svcbatch create ... /LR:@90+200K
  
  

  The upper example will rotate logs each 90 minutes. In case
  log file gets larger the 200Kbytes within that interval,
  it will be rotated as well. In that case internal timer
  will be reset and next rotation will occur after 90 minutes.

  In case rule parameter is @0 SvcBatch will rotate
  log files each day at midnight. This is the same as
  defining /LR:@00:00:00.

  In case rule parameter is @60 SvcBatch will rotate
  log files every full hour.

  In case rule parameter for rotation based on log file size
  is less then 1K (1024 bytes), SvcBatch will not rotate logs by size.

  The rule parameter uses the following format:

      <[@hh:mm:ss|@minutes]><+><size[B|K|M|G]>
  

• S [script][<[> arguments <]>]

  Execute script file on service stop or shutdown

  If defined, on shutdown or stop event the service
  will create separate svcbatch.exe process and call script.
  The purpose of that file is to use some sort of IPC mechanism
  and signal the service to exit.

  This is particularly useful for services that do not handle
  CTRL_C_EVENT or have specific shutdown requirements.

  In case the script equals to NUL, SvcBatch
  will only pass additional arguments to the script interpreter.
  Service will fail to start if the additional argument(s) were not defined.

  In case the script starts with ./ or .\,
  SvcBatch will use the string following the ./ or .\
  as script file without checking for its existence.

  In case the script equals to @,
  SvcBatch will use the main service script file for shutdown,
  add pass stop string as the argument to that script file,
  if the additional argument(s) were not defined.

  To set additional arguments for stop script
  enclose them inside square brackets [ ... ].

  
  > svcbatch create ... /S:stop.bat /S:[ --connect --command=:shutdown ] ...
  ...
  > svcbatch create ... /S:@ ...
  ...
  > svcbatch create ... /S:@ [ used instead default stop ] ...
  
  

• SM [number]

  Set maximum number of stop log files

  Default maximum number of stop log files is 0 (zero),
  which means that no log rotation will be performed for stop
  script logging. To enable log rotation for stop logging, set
  the number parameter value between 1 and 9.

  > svcbatch create ... /SM:2 /SN:myService.stop.log
  
  

  This will rotate stop log files from 1 .. 2.

  Notice

  If this option is defined, and SN option was not defined,
  SvcBatch will use default SvcBatch.stop.log as stop log name.

• SN [name]

  Set stop log file name

  This option allows a user to enable stop logging for scripts
  defined by S option.

  > svcbatch create ... /SN:myService.stop.log ...
  
  

  The name parameter is handled the same as
  described with LN command option.

• ST [timeout]

  Set stop timeout in seconds

  This option sets the timeout when service receives
  stop or shutdown signal.
  The valid timeout range is between 2 and 120
  seconds (two minutes).

  By default this value is set to 10 seconds.

  Also make sure to check the WaitToKillServiceTimeout
  value specified in the following registry key:

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control

  If the operating system is rebooting, this value is used
  as time limit.

• T [path]

  Set temp directory

  This option allows a user to set different temp directory
  then the one defined by the service account environment.

  If the path is not the absolute path, it will
  be resolved relative to the W directory.

  SvcBatch will set TEMP and TMP environment
  variables to that directory.

  In case the directory specified by path parameter
  does not exists, it will be created.

• W [path]

  Set service working directory

  This option enables users to explicitly set the working
  directory. When batch file is executed its current directory
  is set to this path.

  If not specified, the working directory is set
  to the home directory defined using H option.
  Check H command option for more details.

  If the path is not the absolute path, it will
  be resolved relative to the H directory.

  Notice

  If defined, the working directory must exist and have
  read and write access rights for the current process.

Private Environment Variables

SvcBatch sets a few private environment variables that
provide more info about running environments to batch files.
Those variable by default have SVCBATCH prefix,
determined from the program executable name.

Here is the list of environment variables that
SvcBatch sets for each instance:

• SVCBATCH_HOME

  This variable is set to the service home directory.

• SVCBATCH_LOGS

  This variable is set to the service’s output directory.

  In case the logging is disabled, by using /F:Q
  command option, this variable is set to the SVCBATCH_WORK
  directory.

• SVCBATCH_NAME

  This variable is set to the actual service name
  defined with svcbatch create [service name] ...

  @echo off
  rem
  rem Simple example
  rem
  
  echo Running service %SVCBATCH_NAME%
  

• SVCBATCH_UUID

  This is the service’s unique identifier in following hexadecimal format
  abcd-01234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef.
  The first four digits are current process id, and remaining digits
  are randomly generated at service startup.

  The SVCBATCH_UUID environment variable can be used
  inside batch file when unique identifier is needed.

  rem
  rem Create unique temp directory
  rem
  md "%TEMP%\%SVCBATCH_UUID%"
  ...
  ... do some work using that directory
  ...
  rd /S /Q "%TEMP%\%SVCBATCH_UUID%"
  

• SVCBATCH_WORK

  This variable is set to the service working directory.

  The working directory is set to SVCBATCH_HOME
  directory, unless the W command option was configured.

  This variable is set as current directory for the
  shell process launched from SvcBatch, and as base directory
  for SVCBATCH_LOGS in case the L parameter
  was defined as relative path.

Notice

In case you rename SvcBatch executable from svcbatch.exe
to for example myservice.exe, SvcBatch will use MYSERVICE
as prefix for those variables. In that case it will export
MYSERVICE_NAME, MYSERVICE_HOME, etc.

In case the /EP:@ or /EP:PREFIX command option is
defined, it will take precedence over this feature.

Important

Make sure to use only ASCII alphanumeric and underscore (_)
characters as executable name, or the service will fail to start.

Stop and Shutdown

When you type sc.exe stop myservice or when your machine gets into the
shutdown state, SvcBatch running as a service will receive
stop or shutdown event. SvcBatch will send CTRL_C_EVENT to its
child processes or run shutdown batch file in case
/S [batchfile] was defined at install time.

It is up to the application started from batch file to
handle this event and do any cleanup needed and then exit.
By default, on startup, SvcBatch writes ‘Y’ to cmd.exe stdin,
to handle that obnoxious Terminate batch job (Y/N)? prompt.
If batch file or any of downstream processes do not exit within stop timeout,
SvcBatch will give another 20 seconds for all processes to exit.
After that timeout it will simply kill each descendant process
that originated from svcbatch.exe.

Version Information

The simplest way to obtain the version information
is to right click on the svcbatch.exe from Windows File
Explorer, click on Properties, and then on the Details tab.

Another way to get SvcBatch version and build information
is to open command prompt and type

> svcbatch.exe version
SvcBatch 1.2.3.4 ...

>

Make sure to use the correct information when filing
bug reports.

Error Logging

SvcBatch logs any runtime error to Windows Event Log.
Use Windows Event Viewer and check Windows Logs/Application/YourServiceName
events.

Limitations

SvcBatch have limits for the following features:

• Service Name

  The Service Name must consists of only ASCII characters
  except the following set:

    <  (less than)
    >  (greater than)
    :  (colon)
    ;  (semicolon)
    "  (double quote)
    /  (forward slash)
    \  (backslash)
    |  (vertical bar or pipe)
    ?  (question mark)
    *  (asterisk)
  

  Service Name must start with alphanumeric character,
  and its length is limited to 255 characters.

  Service will fail to start if the upper criteria is not met.

• Program File Name

  Default Program File Name is svcbatch.exe.

  Program File Name can contain only alphanumeric ASCII
  characters including underscore (_) character,
  and must end with .exe file extension.

• File name length

  The maximum file name length must be less then
  2040 characters, and is defined by the
  #define SVCBATCH_PATH_SIZ 2040 macro
  inside svcbatch header file

• Maximum number of arguments

  The maximum number of arguments that can be passed
  to the command processor is limited to 32,
  and is defined by the #define SVCBATCH_MAX_ARGS 32
  macro inside svcbatch header file

  This option also defines the maximum number of
  parameters passed to the command interpreter when
  C command option is used.

License

The code in this repository is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License.