FIDO(8)

📦 version 1.1.5, in fedora 43, fedora 44

🌸 FIDO(8) 🌸

okay bestie, so you know how I'm literally obsessed with this manual page? it's fido, section 8 of the manual, and it's part of the User Contributed Perl Documentation. she's giving watchdog. she's giving daemon. she's giving main character energy. let's get into it 💅

✨ NAME ✨

fido is a realish-time log watchdog and alert daemon. no cap, that's literally the whole vibe. 🐶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

fido [option]

one little binary, a whole lot of options. iconic honestly.

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so fido is a multi-threaded daemon — yes bestie, multiple threads, she's doing the most — and she can watch several files at once. 👑

she looks for patterns that you configure, and when something matches, she executes scripts or programs. that's the whole thing. that's the job. 🫡

and the "realish-time" thing? not a typo, it's a whole lifestyle. fido is about a second or so behind the clock. so like… real time, but make it fashion. 💀

✨ OPTIONS ✨

🎀 Option Syntax

since fido uses GNU getopt to process command-line arguments, every single option has a long form along with the short one. long options are more convenient to remember, but take time to type. pick your fighter. 🥊

you may freely mix different option styles, i.e.,

$ fido -d --pid=/var/run/fido.pid

see? short, long, all in one line, living together in harmony. we love a flexible queen. 💖

🚀 Startup Options

  • -V, --version — displays the version of fido and exits. quick lil vibe check on what you're running. ⭐
  • -h, --help — prints a help message describing all of fido's command-line options, then exits. she will explain herself, and honestly? we respect that. 📖
  • -C, --config — prints the default values for all configurable settings. values are read from the active resource file and command line arguements. (yes, that's how it's spelled up in here, we're keeping it, it's canon. 🙈)
  • -f /path/file, --file=/path/file — this option can be used to specify a fido config file. if none is selected, it will attempt to load FIDORC as an ENV variable. if FIDORC is not set, then it will attempt the following files in this order:
/etc/fido/fido.conf
/etc/fido.conf
/usr/local/etc/fido.conf
/usr/local/etc/fido/fido.conf

at this point, if fido hasn't found a config file, it will try to run off command line arguments.

NOTE: Command line arguments take precedent over config file settings. 💅 command line said it first, command line wins.
  • -d, --daemon — this options tells fido to run in the background as a daemon. this is a default option so select this to override the config file. 🌙 she's going to the background, she'll text you later.

sets the network protocol to ICMP. during a netscan, fido can use either ICMP echo (default) or TCP/IP connect for discovery. this option sets the protocol to ICMP. this option is like pinging hosts on a network with the ping utility. ICMP requires raw sockets. therefore, fido must either be run as root or setuid root. (see ERRORS below).

okay so this part is wild but it is literally what the page says, so here it is, unedited, no notes. 🙈
  • -p /path/file, --pid=/path/file — by default, fido writes a pid file to /var/run/fido.pid. you may override that location with this option, like:
fido --pid=/var/lib/run/fido.pid

pick a home for your pid file, she's not picky, she just needs an address. 🏡

  • -l VAL, --log=VAL — use this option to specify a logging method. the values can be "/path/to/file" or "syslog". fido can either log its messages to syslog or it can use its own internal logging mechanism to write to a specified file. so basically: syslog girlie or DIY girlie, your call. 🍓

✨ CONFIG FILE ✨

fido's configurable options can be set and stored in config files. all stored settings can be overridden with command line arguments. if a logging mechanism is set in config file, it can be overridden with --log.

fido reads config files in a priortized fashion. the ENV variable FIDORC is the highest. that is followed by '-f /path/file' and by the system defaults:

/etc/fido/fido.conf
/etc/fido.conf
/usr/local/etc/fido.conf
/usr/local/etc/fido/fido.conf

here is an example that sets an ENV variable and invokes the program:

$ FIDORC=/home/jeff/haha fido -d

look at that. environment variable set, daemon launched, everything's coming up roses. 🌈✨

✨ AUTHOR ✨

Jeffrey Fulmer, et al. <jeff@joedog.org> — the original icon, the blueprint, the moment. 👑

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

  • fido.conf(5) — go read her next, she's the whole personality of the config. 💜

Copyright (C) 2000-2014 by Jeffrey Fulmer, et al.

this is free software; see the source for copying conditions. there is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

fr fr, no warranty. she's free, she's generous, she is not legally responsible for your log-watching choices. 💀

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 💖 this was perl v5.8.8, dated 2014-12-03, and yeah — she's a 2014 girlie but she still slays. mwah, go watch some logs. 🎀🦋💅

📦 where this page comes from