Ubuntu Manpage: whereami — non-interatively ascertain the location of the computer and reconfigure the

NAME

       whereami  —  non-interatively  ascertain  the location of the computer and reconfigure the
       system appropriately.

SYNOPSIS

       whereami [--debug ]   [--scriptdebug  ]   [--syslog  ]   [--noactions  ]   [--nolocking  ]
       [--mapping  ]   [--basedir  directory  ]  [--statedir directory ]  [--from location_list ]
       [--run_from calling_program_tag ]  [location_list]

DESCRIPTION

       `whereami' provides a  configurable  and  extensible  framework  for  automatic  location-
       detection and reconfiguration of computers, typically laptops.

   Detection
       Detection is handled through the use of various network and hardware probing tools.  These
       tools have been wrapped in small shell scripts to interface them to whereami, but the end-
       user with different requirements may wish to extend these in some situations.

       whereami  processes  the  file /etc/whereami/detect.conf performing the tests specified in
       there in order to decide which location the computer is currently located at.

       For full detail on the discovery process, you should read the detect.conf (5) manpage.

   Configuration
       Configuration is handled through standard shell scripting.  A  variety  of  small  utility
       scripts are provided and the author is always willing to accept more.

       The  file  /etc/whereami/whereami.conf is parsed and a script built containing the actions
       specified there which are associated with the locations found during the detection  phase.
       Actions may be configured for when leaving, remaining, or arriving at a location.

       Once  the  script  has been built, it is run to effect the necessary changes to the system
       configuration.

OPTIONS

This program follows the modern command-line syntax preceding each option with a double
dash (`--'). Short form options are also available, but are not documented (RTFC :-)

--debug Run in debugging mode. A verbose output is provided and the resulting script is
output to the screen and not executed.

--scriptdebug
Run in script debugging mode. Each script supplied with `whereami' will `set -o
xtrace' if the environment variable `DEBUGWHEREAMI' is set to non-blank. This
parameter will set that variable. The script which is built by whereami will
also respond to the environment variable.

--syslog Output some logging information to syslog. The 'user' facility is used for
this, and it provides an insight into which locations whereami has chosen, and
why.

In combination with --scriptdebug above, this can be very useful for debugging
your configuration. Also note that the default installation turns this on for
apm and init actions.

--noactions
Just do the detection and print the location name. Don't build and run the
script from whereami.conf.

You might do this if you wanted to use whereami's detection, but use something
else for configuration. Perhaps you could achieve the same end with a very
simple whereami.conf, but there should always be two ways to do anything :-).

--nolocking
whereami won't normally let two copies of whereami run at the same time. Use
this option if you can come up with a scenario where you should allow this to
happen!

--mapping This will persuade whereami to do only the detection stage, and output a list of
the detected locations, suitable for use as a mapping script with ifupdown.

--hint locations
Provides some hints to the detection process. The locations set by this
parameter (a comma-delimited list) may be referenced by rules in your
detect.conf.

--basedir directory
Specifies the base directory which will contain both the detect.conf and
whereami.conf. The default is `/etc/whereami' which should be right for normal
use.

--statedir directory
Specifies the state directory in which whereami will write files indicating the
current and previous locations (iam , iwas) and the script which is run for this
environment (whereiam.sh).

--from location_list
Overrides whereami's knowledge of where you have come from. The location_list
will be a comma-separated list of the locations which you are leaving.

Normally `whereami' maintains a history of locations, so that it knows where you
have come from (and what might consequently have to be de-configured) as well as
knowing that your location has changed.

--run_from calling_program_tag
This provides a mechanism for calling software, such as init scripts, pcmcia
startup or apm events, to pass some of that source information to whereami,
where it is promptly ignored, at present.

I have a possibly misguided idea that this might be useful somehow, but I can't
think of any application of it at this point!

location_list
Overrides whereami's testing of where you are. The location_list will be a
comma-separated list of the locations which you are now at.

You might use this if you wished to bypass the detection phase, using some other
package to handle that.

FILES

       /etc/whereami/detect.conf
                 Defines the process of detection.

       /etc/whereami/whereami.conf
                 Defines  the  actions  performed  as a result of entering, leaving, or remaining
                 within a particular location.

KNOWN BUGS

       This man page  only  documents  the  current  perl  version  of  whereami.   For  backward
       compatibility  with  people's  setups,  it is possible to configure your system to run the
       older shell-script, which is currently undocumented.

       If you wish to switch from the shell script to the new  perl  program  you  will  need  to
       create  an  appropriate  `detect.conf'  file to define your location detection parameters.
       Your existing whereami.conf file should be compatible with this version.   Once  you  have
       created a detect.conf file in /etc/whereami you should run `dpkg-reconfigure whereami' and
       respond to the questions.

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by Andrew McMillan <debian@mcmillan.net.nz>  for  the  Debian
       GNU/Linux  system  (but may be used by others).  Permission is granted to copy, distribute
       and/or modify this document under the terms of the GPL version 2.

                                                                                      whereami(8)