NAME

       downtimed - system downtime monitoring and reporting daemon

SYNOPSIS

       downtimed [-D] [-d datadir] [-f timefmt] [-l log] [-p pidfile] [-S] [-s sleep]
       downtimed -v

DESCRIPTION

       The downtimed daemon waits in the background, frequently updating a time stamp file on the
       disk. If the daemon is killed with a signal  associated  with  a  normal  system  shutdown
       procedure, it will record the shutdown time on the disk.

       When  the  daemon  is  restarted during the next boot process, it will report how long the
       system was down and whether it was properly shut down or crashed. The downtime  report  is
       output  to  the  system  log  or to a specified log file. Also a record is appended to the
       downtime database.

OPTIONS

       -D     Do not create nor update the downtime database.

       -d datadir
              The directory where the time stamp files as  well  as  the  downtime  database  are
              located. The default directory is determined at compile time.

       -f timefmt
              Specify  the  time  and date format to use when reporting using strftime(3) syntax.
              The default is "%F %T".

       -l log Logging destination. If the argument contains a slash (/) it is interpreted to be a
              path  name  to  a  log  file,  which  will be created if it does not exist already.
              Otherwise it is  interpreted  as  a  syslog  facility  name.  The  default  logging
              destination  is  "daemon"  which means that the messages are written to syslog with
              the daemon facility code.

       -p pidfile
              The location of the file which keeps track of the process ID of the running  daemon
              process. The system default location is determined at compile time.

       -S     Normally  fsync(2)  is  performed  after each update of the time stamp. This option
              disables the fsync(2).  It reduces the load  on  the  disk  system  but  makes  the
              downtime measurement less reliable.

       -s sleep
              Defines  how long to sleep between each update of the on-disk time stamp file. More
              frequent updates result in more accurate downtime reporting in the case of a system
              crash.  Less  frequent  updates  decrease  the amount of disk writes performed. The
              default is to sleep 15 seconds between each update. If you are using a flash memory
              based  SSD  or  other  disk  which has limited amount of write cycles per block, it
              might be a good idea to set the sleep  time  to  a  higher  value  to  prolong  the
              lifetime of the storage device.

       -v     Display the program version number, copyright message and the default settings.

SIGNALS

       SIGHUP Close and re-open the output log. Use in case you want to rotate the log file.

       SIGTERM and SIGINT
              Terminate  gracefully.  These signals signify that a graceful system shutdown is in
              process.

EXIT STATUS

       The daemon exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

SEE ALSO

       downtimes(1), syslog.conf(5), http://dist.epipe.com/downtimed/

BUGS

       The reporting accuracy in case of a system crash depends on how often the  time  stamp  is
       updated.

       Finding  out  the  system  startup time is very operating system specific.  If the program
       does not have specific code to support your operating system, it assumes that  the  system
       started when the daemon started.

       Reporting  is  inaccurate  if  the  system clock changes during system downtime or startup
       process. Daylight saving time changes have no effect as all calculations  are  done  using
       UTC.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2009-2013 EPIPE Communications. All rights reserved.

       Redistribution  and  use  in  source  and  binary forms, with or without modification, are
       permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

       1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright  notice,  this  list  of
       conditions and the following disclaimer.

       2.  Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of
       conditions and the following  disclaimer  in  the  documentation  and/or  other  materials
       provided with the distribution.

       THIS  SOFTWARE  IS  PROVIDED  BY  THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
       IMPLIED  WARRANTIES,  INCLUDING,  BUT  NOT  LIMITED  TO,   THE   IMPLIED   WARRANTIES   OF
       MERCHANTABILITY  AND  FITNESS  FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL
       THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE  LIABLE  FOR  ANY  DIRECT,  INDIRECT,  INCIDENTAL,  SPECIAL,
       EXEMPLARY,  OR  CONSEQUENTIAL  DAMAGES  (INCLUDING,  BUT  NOT  LIMITED  TO, PROCUREMENT OF
       SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR  PROFITS;  OR  BUSINESS  INTERRUPTION)
       HOWEVER  CAUSED  AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR
       TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN  ANY  WAY  OUT  OF  THE  USE  OF  THIS
       SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

       The  views  and  conclusions  contained in the software and documentation are those of the
       authors and should not be interpreted as representing official policies, either  expressed
       or implied, of EPIPE Communications.