Ubuntu Manpage: whereami — non-interatively ascertain the location of the computer and reconfigure the system

NAME

       whereami  —  non-interatively  ascertain  the  location  of  the  computer  and  reconfigure  the  system
       appropriately.

SYNOPSIS

       whereami [--debug ]  [--scriptdebug  ]   [--syslog  ]   [--noactions  ]   [--nolocking  ]   [--mapping  ]
       [--basedir directory ]  [--statedir directory ]  [--from location_list ]  [--run_from calling_program_tag
       ]  [location_list]

DESCRIPTION

       `whereami'  provides  a  configurable  and  extensible  framework  for  automatic  location-detection and
       reconfiguration of computers, typically laptops.

   Detection
       Detection is handled through the use of various network and hardware probing  tools.   These  tools  have
       been  wrapped  in  small  shell  scripts  to  interface them to whereami, but the end-user with different
       requirements may wish to extend these in some situations.

       whereami processes the file /etc/whereami/detect.conf performing the tests specified in there in order to
       decide which location the computer is currently located at.

       For full detail on the discovery process, you should read the detect.conf (5) manpage.

   Configuration
       Configuration is handled through standard shell scripting.   A  variety  of  small  utility  scripts  are
       provided and the author is always willing to accept more.

       The  file /etc/whereami/whereami.conf is parsed and a script built containing the actions specified there
       which are associated with the locations found during the detection phase.  Actions may be configured  for
       when leaving, remaining, or arriving at a location.

       Once the script has been built, it is run to effect the necessary changes to the system configuration.

OPTIONS

This program follows the modern command-line syntax preceding each option with a double dash (`--').
Short form options are also available, but are not documented (RTFC :-)

--debug Run in debugging mode. A verbose output is provided and the resulting script is output to the
screen and not executed.

--scriptdebug
Run in script debugging mode. Each script supplied with `whereami' will `set -o xtrace' if the
environment variable `DEBUGWHEREAMI' is set to non-blank. This parameter will set that
variable. The script which is built by whereami will also respond to the environment variable.

--syslog Output some logging information to syslog. The 'user' facility is used for this, and it
provides an insight into which locations whereami has chosen, and why.

In combination with --scriptdebug above, this can be very useful for debugging your
configuration. Also note that the default installation turns this on for apm and init actions.

--noactions
Just do the detection and print the location name. Don't build and run the script from
whereami.conf.

You might do this if you wanted to use whereami's detection, but use something else for
configuration. Perhaps you could achieve the same end with a very simple whereami.conf, but
there should always be two ways to do anything :-).

--nolocking
whereami won't normally let two copies of whereami run at the same time. Use this option if
you can come up with a scenario where you should allow this to happen!

--mapping This will persuade whereami to do only the detection stage, and output a list of the detected
locations, suitable for use as a mapping script with ifupdown.

--hint locations
Provides some hints to the detection process. The locations set by this parameter (a comma-
delimited list) may be referenced by rules in your detect.conf.

--basedir directory
Specifies the base directory which will contain both the detect.conf and whereami.conf. The
default is `/etc/whereami' which should be right for normal use.

--statedir directory
Specifies the state directory in which whereami will write files indicating the current and
previous locations (iam , iwas) and the script which is run for this environment (whereiam.sh).

--from location_list
Overrides whereami's knowledge of where you have come from. The location_list will be a comma-
separated list of the locations which you are leaving.

Normally `whereami' maintains a history of locations, so that it knows where you have come from
(and what might consequently have to be de-configured) as well as knowing that your location
has changed.

--run_from calling_program_tag
This provides a mechanism for calling software, such as init scripts, pcmcia startup or apm
events, to pass some of that source information to whereami, where it is promptly ignored, at
present.

I have a possibly misguided idea that this might be useful somehow, but I can't think of any
application of it at this point!

location_list
Overrides whereami's testing of where you are. The location_list will be a comma-separated
list of the locations which you are now at.

You might use this if you wished to bypass the detection phase, using some other package to
handle that.

FILES

       /etc/whereami/detect.conf
                 Defines the process of detection.

       /etc/whereami/whereami.conf
                 Defines the actions performed  as  a  result  of  entering,  leaving,  or  remaining  within  a
                 particular location.

KNOWN BUGS

       This  man  page  only  documents  the  current perl version of whereami.  For backward compatibility with
       people's setups, it is possible to configure  your  system  to  run  the  older  shell-script,  which  is
       currently undocumented.

       If  you  wish  to  switch  from  the  shell  script  to  the  new perl program you will need to create an
       appropriate `detect.conf' file to define your location detection parameters.  Your existing whereami.conf
       file should be compatible with this version.  Once you have created a detect.conf file  in  /etc/whereami
       you should run `dpkg-reconfigure whereami' and respond to the questions.

AUTHOR

       This  manual page was written by Andrew McMillan <debian@mcmillan.net.nz> for the Debian GNU/Linux system
       (but may be used by others).  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under
       the terms of the GPL version 2.

                                                                                                     whereami(8)