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10.0;siomonit (sio_process_monitor), revision 1.0, 88/02/02
SIOMONIT (SIO_PROCESS_MONITOR) -- Support repeated logins on an sio line.
usage:  siomonit pathname


FORMAT

  siomonit pathname


  siomonit   supports   repeated   logins  on  sio  lines,  independent  of  any
  login/logout activity at the node terminal.  siomonit must  be  invoked  as  a
  server  (cps)  and  siologin  must  be  a  manager  within the login protected
  subsystem for the login procedure to be successful (See help siologin).


ARGUMENTS

  pathname
  (required)         Specify the file containing argument lists to be passed  to
                     invocations of siologin.  A maximum of three argument lists
                     (one per sio line) are processed.  See the  "ARGUMENT  LIST
                     FORMAT" section below for details about the argument lists.



ARGUMENT LIST FORMAT

  The  argument  list  file contains a sequence of argument lists, one per line.
  Each argument list in the file must have the form:

   [-Repeat] siologin_arg_list

  where

  -Repeat         means re-invoke this process each time it returns.

  siologin_arg_list
                  is an siologin argument list of the form:

    /dev/siox [[-dialin] [-n processname] prog [ args ...]]

  For each argument list, siomonit invokes:

    /sys/siologin/siologin siologin_arg_list

  Comments may be included in the siomonit file and must begin with #.

  Arguments are passed to siologin unvalidated except that the first one must be
  /dev/siox, specifying the sio line to use.  If the invocation fails, or  if  a
  process  returns  from its invocation within 15 seconds, siomonit will wait 15
  minutes before attempting to start the process again.  siomonit  re-reads  the
  argument  file each time a child process dies. An asynchronous quit fault will
  cause siomonit to re-read the argument file and try to restart  processes  for
  unused  lines.    A stop fault causes siomonit to exit. (Processes that do not
  have the -repeat argument are given only one successful start per  reading  of
  the  input  file.)  The sigp command may be used to send stop and quit signals
  to siomonit.

  A frequent cause of failure of an siologin process to stay alive is  a  locked
  sio  line  (/dev/siox).  For example, if a user does not send a CTRL/Z to quit
  from an sio process on a locally connected terminal,  that  sio  line  remains
  locked,  and unusable.  To free up the line, use sigp -q to prod siomonit into
  trying again.

  If siomonit terminates and its child processes  do  not  also  terminate,  the
  child  processes  are,  in effect, orphans.  The existence of the orphans will
  interfere with siomonit's attempts to start new  child  processes.    siomonit
  will  not  be  notified  when  the  orphan  processes  terminate.  Instead, if
  siomonit detects the orphan's existence, it rechecks every 15 minutes  to  see
  if  the  orphans  have  died.    If  the orphan processes have ended, siomonit
  restarts the siologin processes as directed in its argument  list.    siomonit
  itself never kills a child process, its own process, or an orphan.

  Should  this  scenario  occur, a user may have to wait 15 minutes before being
  able to complete the siologin process.

Typewritten Software • bear@typewritten.org • Edmonds, WA 98026