X-Git-Url: https://git.verplant.org/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=src%2Fcollectd-exec.pod;h=0baf2ebe1c2972c800e8de73dbbce8c6590ee9b8;hb=63cbff115ba03717e81087d1419fc07c24d205c2;hp=41825f0d6126449f03acfed59251d264a6169cca;hpb=4c07add37b18a1c86087a883222d9316b6b38ed6;p=collectd.git

diff --git a/src/collectd-exec.pod b/src/collectd-exec.pod
index 41825f0d..0baf2ebe 100644
--- a/src/collectd-exec.pod
+++ b/src/collectd-exec.pod
@@ -15,11 +15,14 @@ collectd-exec - Documentation of collectd's C<exec plugin>
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
 
 The C<exec plugin> forks of an executable and reads back values that it writes
-to C<STDOUT>. The executable is forked in a fassion similar to L<init>: It is
+to C<STDOUT>. The executable is forked in a fashion similar to L<init>: It is
 forked once and not again until it exits. If it exited, it will be forked again
 after at most I<Interval> seconds. It is perfectly legal for the executable to
 run for a long time and continuously write values to C<STDOUT>.
 
+If you want/need better performance or more functionality you should take a
+long look at the C<perl plugin>, L<collectd-perl(5)>.
+
 =head1 DATA FORMAT
 
 The forked executable is expected to print values to C<STDOUT>. The expected
@@ -33,16 +36,27 @@ Each line beginning with a C<#> (hash mark) is ignored.
 
 =item
 
-Any other line must be of the form C<I<type>,I<type-instance>,I<value>>, where
-I<type> is either B<counter> or B<gauge>, I<type-instance> may not contain
-C<,> (comma), C</> (slash) and C<\0> (null byte) and I<value> is either an
-integer (if I<type> is B<counter>) or a floating-point number (if I<type> is
-B<gauge>).
+Other lines must consist of an I<Identifier> and a I<Value-List>, separated by
+a space. A description of these two parts follows:
 
-=back
+An I<Identifier> is of the form
+C<I<host>B</>I<plugin>B<->I<instance>B</>I<type>B<->I<instance>> with both
+I<instance>-parts being optional. If they're omitted the hyphen must be
+omitted, too.
+
+A I<Value-List> is a colon-separated list of values, prepended by the time
+stamp in epoch, i.E<nbsp>e. the same format RRDTool uses, see L<rrdupdate(1)>.
+As with the argument passed to RRDTool you can use B<N> as the current time and
+B<U> for undefined values. However, undefined values can only passed for
+B<GAUGE> values. When setting B<U> for a B<COUNTER> data source the behavior is
+undefined.
 
-The values are always considered to be "fresh", i.E<nbsp>e. the time is set to
-"now".
+Since examples usually let one understand a lot better, here are some:
+
+  leeloo/cpu-0/cpu-idle N:2299366
+  alice/interface/if_octets-eth0 1180647081:421465:479194
+
+=back
 
 When collectd exits it sends a B<SIGTERM> to all still running
 child-processes upon which they have to quit.
@@ -57,11 +71,20 @@ If the executable only writes one value and then exits I will be executed every
 I<Interval> seconds. If I<Interval> is short (the default is 10 seconds) this
 may result in serious system load.
 
+=item
+
+The user, the binary is executed as, may not have root privileges, i.E<nbsp>e.
+must have an UID that is non-zero.
+
 =back
 
 =head1 SEE ALSO
 
-L<collectd(1)>, L<collectd.conf(5)>, L<fork(2)>, L<exec(3)>
+L<collectd(1)>,
+L<collectd.conf(5)>,
+L<collectd-perl(5)>,
+L<collectd-unixsock(5)>,
+L<fork(2)>, L<exec(3)>
 
 =head1 AUTHOR