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.
    

SEE ALSO

    pms(8)
    

BUGS

    There are no bugs; how could you ask that?
    

HISTORY

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