PMSD(8) 						  PMSD(8)

NAME
       pmsd  - Periodically Manic System Daemon. Manages the biz-
       zare 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 dis-
       play 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  acti-
	      vation  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.

BUGS
       There are no bugs; how could you ask that?

HISTORY
       Written by Eric L. Pederson <eric@bofh.org.uk>.

			  25 March 1996