.TH HOBBITD_CHANNEL 8 "Version 4.2.3:  4 Feb 2009" "Xymon"
.SH NAME
hobbitd_channel \- Feed a hobbitd channel to a worker module
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B "hobbitd_channel --channel=CHANNEL [options] workerprogram [worker-options]"

.SH DESCRIPTION
hobbitd_channel hooks into one of the 
.I hobbitd(8)
channels that provide information about events occurring in the Xymon system.
It retrieves messages from the hobbitd daemon, and passes them on to the
\fBworkerprogram\fR on the STDIN (file descripter 1) of the worker program. 
Worker programs can then handle messages as they like.

A number of worker programs are shipped with hobbitd, e.g.
.I hobbitd_filestore(8)
.I hobbitd_history(8)
.I hobbitd_alert(8)
.I hobbitd_rrd(8)

If you want to write your own worker module, a sample worker module
is provided as part of the hobbitd distribution in the hobbitd_sample.c
file. This illustrates how to easily fetch and parse messages.

.SH OPTIONS
hobbitd_channel accepts a few options.

.IP "--channel=CHANNELNAME"
Specifies the channel to receive messages from, only one channel can be used.
This option is required. The following channels are available:
.br
"status" receives all Xymon status- and summary-messages
.br
"stachg" receives information about status changes
.br
"page" receives information about statuses triggering alerts
.br
"data" receives all Xymon "data" messages
.br
"notes" receives all Xymon "notes" messages
.br
"enadis" receives information about hosts being disabled or enabled.

.IP "--daemon"
hobbitd_channel is normally started by 
.I hobbitlaunch(8)
as a task defined in the
.I hobbitlaunch.cfg(5)
file. If you are not using hobbitlaunch, then starting hobbitd_channel with this
option causes it to run as a stand-alone background task.

.IP "--pidfile=FILENAME"
If running as a stand-alone daemon, hobbitd_channel will save the proces-ID 
of the daemon in FILENAME. This is useful for automated startup- and shutdown-
scripts.

.IP "--env=FILENAME"
Loads the environment variables defined in FILENAME before starting hobbitd_channel.
This is normally used only when running as a stand-alone daemon; if hobbitd_channel
is started by hobbitlaunch, then the environment is controlled by the task definition 
in the
.I hobbitlaunch.cfg(5)
file.

.IP "--log=FILENAME"
Redirect output to this log-file.

.IP "--debug"
Enable debugging output.

.SH FILES
This program does not use any configuration files.

.SH "SEE ALSO"
hobbitd(8), xymon(7)