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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.

SEE ALSO

       detect.conf (5), whereami.conf (5)

       There   is   some   further   documentation   in   HTML   available  in
       /usr/share/doc/whereami/manual

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)