Yes, that's the problem daemon(8) solves. You shouldn't write rc scripts that just fire something that isn't a daemon "into background" indeed. Just wanted to clarify you also shouldn't use daemon(8) on, well, actual daemons.

In my personal opinion, the auto-restart is a misfeature here, it's a completely different concern and belongs into some kind of "service manager/supervisor" instead. And there, it should be used with care, as a temporary workaround for crashes already analyzed, but not fixed yet. Unfortunately, we're trained to just accept broken software more and more (e.g. systemd allows for easy respawning, even whole containers are just respawned), forgetting about the risks attached. 😞

On a side note, this discussion gives me an idea for a blog article: Clearly define the terms "daemon", "service" and "server", so people stop confusing them 😁

CC: @vermaden@bsd.cafe