This is the init.d script that I used to manage my beanstalk daemon, but it can (and has been) easily modified for other uses.
#! /bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: beanstalkd
# Required-Start: $remote_fs $syslog
# Required-Stop: $remote_fs $syslog
# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop: 1
# Short-Description: Beanstalk queue server
### END INIT INFO
EXEC=/usr/local/bin/beanstalkd
PIDFILE=/var/run/beanstalkd.pid
OPTS=
set -e
. /lib/lsb/init-functions
test -x $EXEC || exit 0
export PATH="${PATH:+$PATH:}/usr/sbin:/sbin"
case "$1" in
start)
log_daemon_msg "Starting Beanstalk job queue" "beanstalkd"
if start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --oknodo --make-pidfile --background --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $EXEC -- $OPTS; then
log_end_msg 0
else
log_end_msg 1
fi
;;
stop)
log_daemon_msg "Stopping Beanstalk job queue" "beanstalkd"
if start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --pidfile $PIDFILE; then
log_end_msg 0
else
log_end_msg 1
fi
;;
reload|force-reload)
log_daemon_msg "Reloading Beanstalk job queue" "beanstalkd"
if start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet --oknodo --make-pidfile --background --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $EXEC; then
log_end_msg 0
else
log_end_msg 1
fi
;;
restart)
log_daemon_msg "Restarting Beanstalk job queue" "beanstalkd"
start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --retry 30 --pidfile $PIDFILE
if start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --oknodo --make-pidfile --background --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $EXEC -- $OPTS; then
log_end_msg 0
else
log_end_msg 1
fi
;;
try-restart)
log_daemon_msg "Restarting Beanstalk job queue" "beanstalkd"
set +e
start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry 30 --pidfile $PIDFILE
RET="$?"
set -e
case $RET in
0)
# old daemon stopped
if start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --oknodo --make-pidfile --background --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $EXEC -- $OPTS; then
log_end_msg 0
else
log_end_msg 1
fi
;;
1)
# daemon not running
log_progress_msg "(not running)"
log_end_msg 0
;;
*)
# failed to stop
log_progress_msg "(failed to stop)"
log_end_msg 1
;;
esac
;;
status)
status_of_proc -p $PIDFILE $EXEC beanstalkd && exit 0 || exit $?
;;
*)
log_action_msg "Usage: /etc/init.d/beanstalk {start|stop|reload|force-reload|restart|try-restart|status}"
exit 1
esac
exit 0