It's a quite late answer, nevertheless I find it important since it causes some misunderstanding (so I was misleaded)
You don't need to escape a single quote character. Try it:
check process fake_proc
with pidfile /tmp/test_pid
start = "/bin/bash -c 'echo $$ > /tmp/test_pid'"
stop = "echo stop > /tmp/test_pid"
It will not shown as a started process, however test_pid
file is created. Add ; sleep xx
to catch a process and examine its properties.
The problem might be caused by a some env-specific issue.