SYNOPSIS

cf-execd [OPTION]... [FILE]

DESCRIPTION

cf-execd is the scheduling daemon for cf-agent. It runs cf-agent locally according to a schedule specified in policy code (executor control body). After a cf-agent run is completed, cf-execd gathers output from cf-agent, and may be configured to email the output to a specified address. It may also be configured to splay (randomize) the execution schedule to prevent synchronized cf-agent runs across a network.

OPTIONS

--help, -h

Print the help message

--debug, -d

Enable debugging output

--verbose, -v

Output verbose information about the behaviour of the agent

--dry-run, -n

All talk and no action mode - make no changes, only inform of promises not kept

--version, -V

Output the version of the software

--file, -f

Specify an alternative input file than the default

--define, -D

Define a list of comma separated classes to be defined at the start of execution

--negate, -N

Define a list of comma separated classes to be undefined at the start of execution

--no-lock, -K

Ignore locking constraints during execution (ifelapsed/expireafter) if "too soon" to run

--inform, -I

Print basic information about changes made to the system, i.e. promises repaired

--diagnostic, -x

Activate internal diagnostics (developers only)

--no-fork, -F

Run as a foreground processes (do not fork)

--once, -O

Run once and then exit (implies no-fork)

--no-winsrv, -W

Do not run as a service on windows - use this when running from a command shell (CFEngine Nova only)

--ld-library-path, -L

Set the internal value of LD_LIBRARY_PATH for child processes

--legacy-output, -l

Use legacy output format

--color, -C

Enable colorized output. Possible values: 'always', 'auto', 'never'. If option is used, the default value is 'auto'

CFENGINE

CFEngine provides automated configuration management of large-scale computer systems. A system administrator describes the desired state of a system using CFEngine policy code. The program cf-agent reads policy code and attempts to bring the current system state to the desired state described. Policy code is downloaded by cf-agent from a cf-serverd daemon. The daemon cf-execd is responsible for running cf-agent periodically.
Documentation for CFEngine is available at http://cfengine.com/documentation/.

PROMISE THEORY

CFEngine is built on principles from promise theory, proposed by Mark Burgess in 2004. Promise theory is a model of voluntary cooperation between individual, autonomous actors or agents who publish their intentions to one another in the form of promises. A promise is a declaration of intent whose purpose is to increase the recipient's certainty about a claim of past, present or future behaviour. For a promise to increase certainty, the recipient needs to trust the promiser, but trust can also be built on the verification that previous promises have been kept, thus trust plays a symbiotic relationship with promises.
For an introduction to promise theory, please see http://arxiv.org/abs/0810.3294/

AVAILABILITY

cf-execd is part of CFEngine.
Binary packages may be downloaded from http://cfengine.com/downloads/.
The source code is available at http://github.com/cfengine/

AUTHOR

Mark Burgess and CFEngine AS