It checks existence of the files /etc/systraq/i_want_a_broken_systraq and /etc/systraq/systraq_is_unconfigured . The file i_want_a_broken_systraq typically is empty; if it exists, st_snapshot.hourly exits immediately. Existence of this file "breaks" systraq: systraq will no longer warn when system configuration files changes, but will remain silent. If systraq_is_unconfigured exists, its contents are displayed and st_snapshot.hourly exits. The file systraq_is_unconfigured typically holds instructions on how to configure systraq, an example systraq_is_unconfigured file is shipped with the systraq tarball. If both files are missing, st_snapshot is called with appropriate arguments, either in "root" or in "public"-mode, depending on the ST_MODE environment variable.

Since the systraq tarball behaves sanely on a fresh default install, systraq_is_unconfigured is not installed by default. However, people preparing systraq binary packages typically can make good use of this file.

When systraq is installed from tarball the systraq cronjobs are not enabled. One typically enables them after having configured systraq, especially after the st_snapshot listfiles snapshot_pub.list, snapshot_pub.homelist, snapshot_root.list and snapshot_root.homelist in /etc/systraq are created. However, binary systraq packages typically enable the cronjobs without enforcing one-fits-all listfiles on the user.