pmsd(8) - Periodically Manic System Daemon

PMSD(8)              Maintenance Procedures               PMSD(8)

NAME
     pmsd - Periodically Manic System Daemon. Manages the bizzare
     and sometimes unexplainable behavior exhibited by computers.

SYNOPSIS
     pmsd [-bcfmp]

DESCRIPTION
     pmsd is a rogue daemon that is  spawned  on  a  semi-regular
     schedule  by  init(8).   Most  of  the  unusual  and  quirky
     behavior associated with misbehaving computers can be attri-
     buted to pmsd.

     pmsd has a number of command-line options, invoked  at  run-
     time  by  init(8).   The  ps(1)  command  will  occasionally
     display the current options, but only  if  pmsd  feels  like
     revealing  them.  This  is usually not the case. pmsd can be
     manually invoked by the pms(8) command. Make sure  there  is
     not  a pmsd process already running when you use pms(8); you
     don't want to be on a system with multiple instances of pmsd
     running.

     With no flags, pmsd runs with the default -m option, and any
     others it feels like using.

OPTIONS
     -b    Bloat.  Files  randomly  grow  in  size,  filling  up
          filesystems and causing quotas to be exceeded.

     -c    Craving. System becomes hungry, eating magnetic tapes,
          CD-ROM  discs,  floppies,  and  anything else a hapless
          user loads into a removable media drive.

     -f    Fatigue. System will pause  for  a  random  period  of
          time.  It is important to leave the system alone during
          this time. Attempts to coax  the  machine  into  normal
          operation could cause the spontaneous activation of all
          command-line switches. This is to be avoided.

     -m    Mood swings. Process priorities and  nice  values  are
          altered randomly. Swapping usually occurs with no warn-
          ing, even when memory is available. This is the default
          behavior.

     -p    Peeved. One or more users are selected as  targets  of
          the  system's  anger.  Files are deleted, e-mail copied
          to /etc/motd, and any Usenet  articles  posted  by  the
          targets are crossposted to misc.test and alt.flame.

NOTES
     When pmsd is invoked  by  using  the  pms(8)  command,  pmsd
     ignores  any  command-line  switches and does what it damned

     well pleases.

SEE ALSO
     pms(8)

BUGS
     There are no bugs; how could you ask that?

HISTORY
     Written by Eric L. Pederson <eric@bofh.org.uk>.

Date posted: 25th March 1996