Do I need sgi_fam?

[Walter Dnes]

On Sun, Nov 23, 2003 at 12:53:54PM -0500, jkls wrote
> Ok, I've found where it may be started.
> It's in inetd.conf. So I wonder why it
> is always running and do I actually need it?

  FAM (File Access Monitor) is a program that monitors constantly
monitors specific files for any changes.  Here's the theory...

  If you're running one program that needs to update a screen when a
file changes, the program can poll the file every few seconds.  But what
if you're running a whole bunch of programs that need to track file
changes ?  Rather than have several programs scanning your drive, the
FAM daemon does all the monitoring and informs client programs when
files have changed.  If there is any overlap, FAM will inform both
clients, polling the file only once, saving a bunch of disk accesses.
With multiple file-browsers on multiple desktops, this is supposed to
be the most efficient method.

  Now for the implementation.  FAM is *NOT* a "well-known service" with
a reserved port in /etc/services.  So it has to register with sunrpc on
port 111 (hello L1on and other linux worms of a few years ago) and is
assigned an un-used port.  Client programs query sunrpc for the port
number of FAM, and then talk to FAM on the assigned port.  I don't think
that programs require FAM to run.  This is different from Redhat which
set up KDE with dependancies to not install if FAM wasn't installed.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org>
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