NAME

       loadwatch - run a program when machine is idle

SYNOPSIS

       loadwatch [options] -p pid | [--] prog [args]

DESCRIPTION

       loadwatch  either spawns a child process prog with the arguments args and controls it with
       all its process group, or takes control of an already running process with  pid  pid  with
       all its process group.

       loadwatch  allows  the  controlled  processes  to run while the load average remains below
       high_limit. Every delay seconds, loadwatch checks the load average. If the load  is  above
       high_limit,  the  child  is  suspended;  the  child  is  resumed when the load falls below
       low_limit.

OPTIONS

       A summary of options is included below.

       -h high_limit
              A decimal value that sets the system load  at  which  the  child  process  will  be
              suspended. (Default: 1.25)

       -l low_limit
              A  decimal  value  that  sets  the  system  load at which the child process will be
              resumed. (Default: 0.25)

       -d delay
              An integral number of seconds that sets how often the system load will be  checked.
              (Default: 10)

       -n copies
              An integer value that sets the number of copies of prog to run. (Default: 1)

       -u file
              Create a UNIX domain socket file for use by lw-ctl.

       -p pid The pid of the program that should be controlled by loadwatch (with all its process
              group).

SEE ALSO

       lw-ctl(1), nice(1)

BUGS

       You should choose low_limit and high_limit carefully. When the load drops below low_limit,
       the  process(es)  will  be  resumed, and it should not, by itself, cause the load to raise
       above high_limit, or the whole will oscillate, periodically suspending  and  resuming  the
       process(es).

       Similarly,  if several instances of loadwatch are running, they may resume their processes
       at the same time, leading to oscillations if the limits are not carefully  chosen.  Hence,
       each instance of loadwatch affects every other instance on the computer, and should not be
       considered in isolation.

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by  Dale  E.  Martin  <dmartin@debian.org>,  for  the  Debian
       GNU/Linux  system  (but  may  be  used  by others). It was then updated by Nicolas Boullis
       <nboullis@debian.org>.

                                            July 2003                                LOADWATCH(1)