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<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd" [ ]>
<article>
<articleinfo>
<title>gEximon documentation</title>
</articleinfo>
<sect1><title>Introduction</title>
<para>geximon is a replacement for eximon, the exim server monitor. The
original program is functional, but, to cite one of the exim mailing list
members, "it could use a visit from one of the Learning Channel
redecoration shows :-)".</para>
<para>geximon is written in Python and is based on Gtk2. The source code is
available under the GNU General Public Licence. This is a development
version, so your mileage may vary, however, there should not be any
serious breakage. If you happen to come across a bug or if you have
any suggestions, please take the time to drop me an e-mail to
<email>david@planetwatson.co.uk</email>.</para>
<para>You will need <ulink url="http://www.python.org">Python</ulink>
(version >= 2.2) and a recent version of <ulink
url="http://www.daa.com.au/~james/software/pygtk/">pygtk</ulink>. Of
course, you will need <ulink url="http://www.exim.org">exim</ulink>
(version 3 or 4) installed as well. If exim is installed in a
non-standard location, you will need to specify the paths in geximon
preferences.</para>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Installation</title>
<para>You may run the program by running <command>geximon.py</command>
in the geximon directory. Moreover, as this program is packaged using
distutils, you can easily install it by running
<command>./setup.py install</command> as the superuser. A script named
<command>geximon</command> will be placed in your path which you can
then use to invoke the program.</para>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Configuration</title>
<para>geximon stores its configuration in the file
<filename>.geximonrc</filename> in the user's home directory. Most
settings as well as window positions are saved in this file in a
human-readable format, however, there should be no need to edit it
manually.</para>
<para>Log files can also be fetched from a remote server. In order to use this
feature you will need to setup non-console authentication.</para>
<sect2><title>Privileges</title>
<para>geximon needs privileges to communicate with exim and to read
its logs. The easiest solution is to run the program as the
superuser.</para>
<para>If you are concerned about security, and prefer to run the
program as an ordinary user, there are a few things you can do.
Adding yourself to 'mail' and 'adm' groups might give enough
priviledges to see the exim queue (try
<command>/usr/sbin/exim -bp</command>) and to read the main logfile
(<filename>/var/log/exim/mainlog</filename>). However, the process
list will not be available (it needs to run
<command>/usr/sbin/exiwhat</command>).</para>
<para>You can also use sudo (a program that allows controlled permission
elevation) to great effect. You will need to configure sudo not to ask
for a password for some commands. As the superuser, execute
<command>visudo</command> to edit the sudo configuration file
(<filename>/etc/sudoers</filename>), and add this line:</para>
<para>
<userinput>your_username ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/exim, /usr/sbin/exiwhat</userinput>
</para>
<para>[For more information about the file syntax, see the manual page
of <filename>sudoers</filename>(5).]</para>
<para>Now, in geximon preferences, check the 'Use sudo' option.
The changes should take effect immediately after applying the preferences
window: the queue list and process list should start working. Note that
you will still not be able to kill exim processes from geximon, to do
that you must run geximon itself as the superuser.</para>
<para>Components that lack permissions to function properly should not
interfere with others (e.g. if you can read the logfile, the log should
be shown even if the queue can not be listed.)</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Usage</title>
<para>The user interface should be fairly intuitive. One thing that might
not be apparent at first glance is that messages with ID's highlighted in
red are frozen, which means that they could not be delivered, but
delivery will be attempted after some time passes.</para>
<para>Context menus are available in the queue list and the process list.
You may hold down <keycap>Ctrl</keycap> to select multiple items and use
<keycap>Shift</keycap> to select ranges; <keycombo action="simul">
<keycap>Ctrl</keycap> <keycap>A</keycap> </keycombo> marks all items.
</para>
<para>If the confirmation and report popups annoy you, they can be
turned off in preferences.</para>
<para><command>eximstats</command> and <command>exigrep</command> are
two quite useful utilities that are bundled with exim. They can be invoked
through the 'Exim' menu. <command>exigrep</command> can also be invoked
on fields of messages by using the context menu of the queue list.</para>
<para>You can choose the text wrapping mode in the context menu of
textboxes.</para>
<para>If you are told a message is locked, it means that it is being
processed by exim. To unlock it, you may want to use the process list
to seek out the exim instance that is currently dealing with the
message and send it a SIGTERM. The exim instance will terminate and
the message should now be unlocked.</para>
<para>The plots have the same meanings as in the original eximon. The
label colors correspond to the line colors. The number next to a label is
the last value for that plot, visual scaling (if >1) is shown in
brackets. If you see a single line only, it's probably because it simply
overdraws the other lines.</para>
<para>When the process list is enabled, <command>exiwhat</command> is
invoked regularly (the interval can be specified in preferences). Each
run may produce a short but noticeable spike in CPU usage, so closing
the window when it is not in use is a good idea.</para>
</sect1>
</article>
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