\fBhtsn\fR [OPTIONS] [HOSTNAMES]
.SH DESCRIPTION
-
.P
-The Sports Network <http://www.sportsnetwork.com> offers an XML feed
+The Sports Network <http://www.sportsnetwork.com/> offers an XML feed
containing various sports news and statistics. The goal of \fBhtsn\fR
is to watch the XML feed and parse the individual XML documents into
files.
+.P
+Once started, we will choose an XML feed host to connect to. The
+choice is made from a list in a round-robin fashion, and by default,
+the list contains all known TSN feed hosts. Once we have a connection,
+your username and password are sent. If they are accepted, we begin to
+parse the feed saving all XML files to the configured output directory
+(see \fI\-\-output\-directory\fR).
+.P
+If we encounter an error (say, the connection is dropped), then we
+will attempt to connect to the next host in the list after waiting
+five seconds. This process continues indefinitely.
+.P
+The program can run either interactively (that is, outputting to the
+console), or as a daemon with the \fI\-\-daemonize\fR flag.
.SH INPUT
-
.P
The program takes no input; a username and password must be supplied
on the command-line or in a configuration file.
.SH OUTPUT
-
.P
-Standard out and standard error are fairly noisy. All traffic between
-htsn and the feed server is displayed on stdout. Status messages are
-interspersed when they are generated.
+Output is not generated when running as a daemon; otherwise, standard
+out and standard error are fairly noisy. All traffic between htsn and
+the feed server is displayed on stdout. Status messages are
+interspersed when they are generated with warnings and errors going to
+stderr. The following can be expected:
.IP \[bu] 2
The only data we send to the feed are the username and password. These
will be highlighted in green on stdout.
Errors will be highlighted in red and sent to stderr.
.SH LOGGING
-
+.P
Logging is done either to syslog or a file. The destination and
-verbosity are controlled by the \fIlog_file\fR, \fIlog_level\fR, and
-\fIsyslog\fR parameters which may be specified either on the
-command line or in the configuration file.
+verbosity are controlled by the \fI\-\-log\-file\fR,
+\fI\-\-log\-level\fR, and \fI\-\-syslog\fR parameters which may be
+specified either on the command line or in the configuration file.
.SH OPTIONS
+.IP \fB\-\-daemonize\fR,\ \fB\-d\fR
+Run as a daemon, in the background. When running as a daemon the
+\fI\-\-pidfile\fR, \fI\-\-run\-as\-group\fR, and
+\fI\-\-run\-as\-user\fR flags become relevant.
+
+Default: disabled
+
.IP \fB\-\-log-file\fR
If you specify a file here, logs will be written to it (possibly in
addition to syslog). Can be either a relative or absolute path. It
Default: INFO
-.IP \fB\-\-password\fR,\ \fB\-p\fR
+.IP \fB\-\-output\-directory\fR,\ \fB\-o\fR
+To which directory should we write the XML files?
+
+Default: .
+
+.IP \fB\-\-password\fR
The password associated with your TSN username. A password is
required, so you must supply one either on the command line or in a
configuration file.
Default: none
-.IP \fB\-\-output_directory\fR,\ \fB\-o\fR
-To which directory should we write the XML files?
+.IP \fB\-\-pidfile\fR
+(Daemon mode only) Create a PID file in the given location. This is
+used by the init system on Unix to keep track of the running daemon.
+Its parent directory must be writable by the user/group that we will
+run as!
-Default: .
+Default: /run/htsn/htsn.pid
+
+.IP \fB\-\-run\-as\-group\fR
+(Daemon mode only) Run as the given system group. The PID file is
+written before privileges are dropped, so the only privileges needed
+by htsn are those necessary to write the XML files and (optionally)
+the log file.
+
+Default: the current group
+
+.IP \fB\-\-run\-as\-user\fR
+(Daemon mode only) Run as the given system user. The PID file is
+written before privileges are dropped, so the only privileges needed
+by htsn are those necessary to write the XML files and (optionally)
+the log file.
+
+Default: the current user
.IP \fB\-\-syslog\fR,\ \fB\-s\fR
Enable logging to syslog. On Windows this will attempt to communicate
(over UDP) with a syslog daemon on localhost, which will most likely
not work.
+Default: disabled
+
.IP \fB\-\-username\fR,\ \fB\-u\fR
Your TSN username. A username is required, so you must supply one
either on the command line or in a configuration file.
Default: none
.SH FEED HOSTS
-
+.P
It is possible to pass a list of feed hostnames on the command-line
(see [HOSTNAMES] in the synopsis). By default \fBhtsn\fR will attempt
to connect to every known TSN XML feed host in a round-robin fashion,
so there is rarely a need to do this.
+.SH CONFIGURATION FILE
+.P
+Any of the command-line options mentioned above can be specified in a
+configuration file instead. We first look for \(dqhtsnrc\(dq in the
+system configuration directory. We then look for a file named
+\(dq.htsnrc\(dq in the user's home directory. The latter will override
+the former.
+.P
+The user's home directory is simply $HOME on Unix; on Windows its
+wherever %APPDATA% points. The system configuration directory is
+determined by Cabal; the \(dqsysconfdir\(dq parameter during the
+\(dqconfigure\(dq step is used.
+.P
+The file's syntax is given by examples in the htsnrc.example file
+(included with \fBhtsn\fR).
+.P
+Options specified on the command-line override those in either
+configuration file.
+
.SH BUGS
.P
projects / dead / htsn.git / blobdiff