.\" Copyright (c) 2006-2011 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. .\" .\" @APPLE_LICENSE_HEADER_START@ .\" .\" This file contains Original Code and/or Modifications of Original Code .\" as defined in and that are subject to the Apple Public Source License .\" Version 2.0 (the 'License'). You may not use this file except in .\" compliance with the License. Please obtain a copy of the License at .\" http://www.opensource.apple.com/apsl/ and read it before using this .\" file. .\" .\" The Original Code and all software distributed under the License are .\" distributed on an 'AS IS' basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER .\" EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AND APPLE HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL SUCH WARRANTIES, .\" INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, .\" FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, QUIET ENJOYMENT OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. .\" Please see the License for the specific language governing rights and .\" limitations under the License. .\" .\" @APPLE_LICENSE_HEADER_END@ .\" .\" .Dd November 4, 2011 .Dt notifyutil 1 .Os "Mac OS X" .Sh NAME .Nm notifyutil .Nd notification command line utility .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm .Op Fl q .Op Fl v .Op Fl z Ar msec .Op Fl M .Op Fl R .Op command Li ... .Pp .Sh DESCRIPTION .Nm is a command-line utility for interacting with the .Xr notify 3 notification system and the .Xr notifyd 8 server. It may be used to post notifications, detect and report notifications, and to examine and set the state values associated with notification keys. .Pp If .Nm is used to monitor one or more notification keys, it prints the notification key when the corresponding notification is received. The .Fl v (verbose) and .Fl q (quiet) flags, if specified, modify the output behavior. .Pp The .Fl v flag causes .Nm to print a time stamp, the notification key, the current state value for that key, and the type of the notification (port, file, etc). The .Fl q flag supresses any output except for state values fetched following a .Fl g command. .Pp Commands listed in the table below are processed in left to right order from the command line. .Pp .Bl -tag -width "-signal [#]" -compact -offset indent .It Fl p Ar key Post a notification for .Ar key . .It Fl w Ar key Register for .Ar key and wait forever for notifications. .It Fl Ar # Ar key Register for .Ar key and wait for .Ar # (an integer) notifications. .It "" .Li E.g. .Fl 1 Ar key waits for a single notification. .It Fl g Ar key Get state value for .Ar key . .It Fl s Ar key Ar val Set state value for .Ar key . .It Fl port Use mach port notifications for subsequent .Fl w or .Fl Ar # registrations. .It "" This is the default registration type. .It Fl file Use file descriptor notifications for subsequent registrations. .It Fl check Use shared memory notifications for subsequent registrations. .It Fl signal Op Ar # Use signal notifications for subsequent registrations. .It "" Signal 1 (HUP) is the default, but an alternate signal may be specified. .It Fl dispatch Use dispatch for subsequent registrations. .El .Pp When invoked with any combination of .Fl w and .Fl Ar # actions, .Nm registers for notification for the specified key(s). If any key is given with a .Fl w action, .Nm runs until interrupted with Control-C. If all registrations are invoked with .Fl Ar # , the program continues to run until the corresponding number of notifications for each key have been received. .Pp By default, .Nm uses mach port registration (using .Fn notify_register_mach_port ) for keys given with a .Fl w or .Fl Ar # flag. The .Fl file command causes .Nm to use .Fn notify_register_file_descriptor for any subsequent .Fl w or .Fl Ar # registrations. Similarly, .Fl check causes .Nm to use .Fn notify_register_check for subsequent registrations, .Fl signal switches to .Fn notify_register_signal , and .Fl dispatch causes it to use .Fn notify_register_dispatch for subsequent registrations. .Pp If any registrations are made following the use of the .Fl check command, .Nm will start a timer and check for shared memory notifications every 100 milliseconds. An alternate timer value may be set following the .Fl z flag. .Pp The .Fl M flag causes .Nm to use multiplex all notifications over a single mach connection with .Nm notifyd . Notifications (except shared memory notifications) are received and redistributed by a dispatch handler. .Pp The .Fl R flag causes .Nm notifyutil to regenerate all its registrations in the unlikely event that .Nm notifyd restarts. .Pp Note that a notification key and its associated state variable only exist when there are one or more current registrations for that key. Setting the state for a key that has no registrations has no effect. Thus the command .Pp .Dl notifyutil -s foo.bar 123 -g foo.bar .Pp will print .Pp .Dl foo.bar 0 .Pp unless foo.bar is registered by some other process. However, the command .Pp .Dl notifyutil -w foo.bar -s foo.bar 123 -g foo.bar .Pp prints .Pp .Dl foo.bar 123 .Pp since the .Dq -w foo.bar registration ensures the key and its state variable exist before the value is set, and continue to exist when the value is fetched. .Sh SEE ALSO notify(3), notifyd(8)