freebsd-dev/usr.sbin/watch/watch.8
Dima Dorfman 1995d3a484 Add an -f option which allows one to specify a snp device to use.
Previously, watch would always use the first device it could
successfully open, but this isn't always desired.  Specifically, it
may not be desired during debugging (of snp), or if a particular snp
device has different permissions (which makes since after snp.c 1.64).
2001-11-24 15:41:38 +00:00

109 lines
2.5 KiB
Groff

.\"
.\" @(#)watch.8 1.1 (FreeBSD) 2/17/95
.\" $FreeBSD$
.\"
.Dd November 24, 2001
.Dt WATCH 8
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm watch
.Nd snoop on another tty line
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl ciotnW
.Op Fl f Ar snpdev
.Op Ar tty
.\" watch [-ciotnW] [<tty name>]
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm Watch
allows the superuser to examine all data coming through a specified tty.
.Nm Watch
writes to standard output.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Fl c
Reconnect on close. If the tty observed by
.Nm
is closed, automatically reattach to the same tty.
If this option is not specified,
.Nm
will request a new tty if running in interactive mode or exit if running
without a controlling tty.
.It Fl f Ar snpdev
If this option is specified,
.Nm
will use
.Ar snpdev
as the
.Xr snp 4
device.
Without this option,
.Nm
will attempt to find the next available
.Xr snp 4
device.
.It Fl i
Force interactive mode.
Interactive mode is a default if
.Nm
is started from a tty.
If output is redirected to a file, interactive mode can still be requested
by specifying this option.
.It Fl o
Reconnect on overflow.
The behavior of
.Nm
if the observed tty overflows is similar to the behavior if the observed tty
is closed.
For more info see
.Xr snp 4 .
.It Fl t
Print the date and time when observation of a given tty is started.
.It Fl n
Disable the ability to switch the watched tty interactively. This disables
both change requests made with <control-X> as well as automatic prompting
when the current tty is closed or overflows. In all cases where a prompt
would be displayed,
.Nm
will exit. The reconnect flags are unaffected by
this option.
When this flag is used, <control-X> is passed through to the terminal.
.It Fl W
Allow write access to observed tty.
.It Ar tty
Tty may be specified as an tty-style device, such as a pseudo tty device,
a virtual console, or a serial line, etc.
Names may be preceded by
.Pa /dev/ .
.El
.Sh OPERATION
While running in interactive mode, all user input is discarded except for:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width "XXXX" -compact
.It Sy "<control-G>"
Exit
.Nm .
.It Sy "<control-W>"
Clear screen.
.It Sy "<control-X>"
Change attached tty, unless this feature is disabled, in which case
control-X is passed to the terminal as with other control characters.
.El
.Sh RESTRICTIONS
Only the superuser can run
.Nm .
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr pty 4 ,
.Xr sio 4 ,
.Xr snp 4
.Sh BUGS
No terminal emulation is performed.
All user output is reproduced as-is.
.Sh AUTHORS
.An Ugen J.S. Antsilevich Aq ugen@NetVision.net.il
.Sh HISTORY
.Nm Watch
first appeared in
.Fx 2.1 .