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 attributed 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 warning, 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>.

                                          25 March 1996                                   PMSD(8)