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GNU cfengine

2.5 Invoking cfagent

Cfagent may be invoked in a number of ways. Here are some examples:

host% cfagent host% cfagent --file myfile host% cfagent -f myfile -v -n host% cfagent --help

The first of these (the default command, with no arguments) causes cfagent to look for a file called `cfagent.conf' in the current directory and execute it silently. The second command reads the file `myfile' and works silently. The third works in verbose mode and the -n option means that no actions should actually be carried out, only warnings should be printed. The final example causes cfagent to print out a list of its command line options.

The complete list of options is listed in the summary at the beginning of this manual, or you can see it by giving the -h option, (see the reference manual).

In addition to running cfagent with a filename, you can also treat cfagent files as scripts by starting your cfagent program with the standard shell line:

#!/usr/local/sbin/cfagent -f # # My config script #

Here we assume that you have installed cfengine under the directory `/usr/local/sbin'. By adding a header like this to the first line of your program and making the file executable with the chmod shell command, you can execute the program just by typing its name--i.e. without mentioning cfengine explicitly at all.

As a novice to cfengine, it is advisable to check all programs with the -n option before trusting them to your system, at least until you are familiar with the behaviour of cfengine. This `safe' option allows you to see what cfengine wants to do, without actually committing yourself to doing it.