NAME
    fam - file alteration monitor

SYNOPSIS
    /usr/etc/fam [ -f | -v | -d ] [ -l | -t NFS_polling_interval ]
   [ -T idle_timeout ] [ -p program.version ] [ -L ] [ -C ]
   [ -c config_file ]

DESCRIPTION
    fam is a server that tracks changes to the filesystem and relays these
    changes to interested applications. Applications such as fm(1G) and
    mailbox(1) present an up-to-date view of the filesystem. In the
    absence of fam, these applications and others like them are forced to
    poll the filesystem to detect changes. fam is more efficient.

    Applications can request fam to monitor any files or directories in any
    filesystem. When fam detects changes to monitored files, it notifies
    the appropriate  application. The FAM API provides a programmatic
    interface to fam; see fam(3X).

    fam is informed of filesystem changes as  they happen by the kernel
    through the imon(7M) pseudo device driver. If asked to monitor files
    on an NFS mounted filesystem, fam tries to use fam on the NFS server to
    monitor files. If fam cannot contact a remote fam, it polls the files
    instead.  fam also polls special files.

    Normally, fam is started by inetd(1M).  It  is registered  with
    portmap(1M) as performing the sgi_fam service.

OPTIONS
    -l    Disable polling of NFS files. It does not
     disable use of remote fam on NFS servers, nor
     does it disable polling of local files.

    -t NFS_polling_interval  Set  the  interval for polling files to
     NFS_polling_interval seconds. The default is
     six seconds.

    -T idle_timeout   Set the idle timeout interval to idle_time-
     out. fam exits idle_timeout seconds  after
     its last client disconnects. A value of 0
     causes fam to wait indefinitely for new con-
     nections. The default is five seconds.

    -f    Remain  in the foreground instead of spawning
     a child and exiting. This option is ignored
     if fam is started by inetd.

    -v    Turn on verbose messages.

    -d    Enable verbose messages and debug messages.

    -p program.version  Use the specified RPC program and version
     numbers.

    -L    Local-only mode.  fam will  only accept
     requests from  clients running on the local
     machine. This overrides the local_only flag
     in the configuration  file. This option is
     ignored if fam is started by inetd.

    -C    Compatibility mode. This disables authenti-
     cation  and reduces  access security as
     described under SECURITY below.  This  over-
     rides the insecure_compatibility flag in the
     configuration file.

    -c config_file   Read configuration information from the given
     file rather than the default, which is
     /etc/fam.conf.

CONFIGURATION FILE
    In addition to its command-line options, fam's behavior  can also be
    controlled through its  configuration file. By default, this is
    /etc/fam.conf; the -c command-line option can be  used to specify an
    alternate file.  Configuration  lines are in the format option=value.
    Lines beginning with # or ! are ignored.  fam recognizes the following
    options:

    insecure_compatibility  If set to true, this disables authentication
     and reduces access security  as described
     under SECURITY below.  This  is false by
     default. Setting this option to true is the
     same as using the -C command-line option.

    untrusted_user   This is the user name or UID of the user
     account which fam will  use for unauthenti-
     cated clients.  If a file can't be stat'ed by
     this user, fam will not tell unauthenticated
     clients about  the file's existence.  If an
     untrusted user is not given in the configura-
     tion file, fam will write an error message to
     the system log and terminate.

    local_only   If set to true, fam will ignore requests from
     remote fams. This is false by default. Set-
     ting this option to true is the same as using
     the -L command-line option. This option is
     ignored if fam is started by inetd.

    xtab_verification  If set to true, fam will check  the list of
     exported filesystems when remote requests are
     received to verify that the requests fall on
     filesystems  which  are  exported to the
     requesting hosts. This is true by default.
     If this option is set to false, fam will ser-
     vice remote requests without attempting to
     perform the verification. If the local_only
     configuration option or  -L  command-line
     option  is used, xtab_verification has no
     effect.

SECURITY
    For backward compatibility, the -C command-line option and  inse-
    cure_compatibility configuration option can be used to disable authen-
    tication. Configuring fam this way opens a publically known security
    weakness whereby a "rogue client" can obtain the names of all the files
    and directories on the system.

    Note that fam never opens the files it's monitoring, and cannot be used
    by a rogue client to read the contents of any file on the system. fam
    only gives out the names of monitored files, and  only monitors  files
    which the client can stat(1M). Users can stat a file without having
    read permission on it as long as they have search permission on the
    directory containing it.

FILES
    /etc/fam.conf

SEE ALSO
    inetd(1M), portmap(1M), fam(3X), imon(7M),stat(1M).