From 64893e651330b8e689cc61f2b139d9762d305c48 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Kern Sibbald Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:24:00 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Tweak btraceback manpage --- bacula/manpages/btraceback.8 | 26 ++++++++++++++------------ 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-) diff --git a/bacula/manpages/btraceback.8 b/bacula/manpages/btraceback.8 index 8e2004a791..3a76d47a16 100644 --- a/bacula/manpages/btraceback.8 +++ b/bacula/manpages/btraceback.8 @@ -14,28 +14,31 @@ .I pid .SH DESCRIPTION -\fBbtraceback\fR is a simple wrapper shellscript around the \fBgdb\fR debugger +\fBbtraceback\fR is a wrapper shell script around the \fBgdb\fR debugger (or \fBdbx\fR on Solaris systems) and \fBbsmtp\fR, provided for debugging purposes. .SH USAGE -\fBbtraceback\fR is called solely by the exception handlers of the Bacula daemons upon -an imminent crash. It can also be called interactively to view the -current state of the threads belonging to a process. +\fBbtraceback\fR is called by the exception handlers of the Bacula +daemons during a crash. It can also be called interactively to view +the current state of the threads belonging to a process, but this is +not recommended unless you are trying to debug a problem (see below). .SH NOTES In order to work properly, debugging symbols must be available to the debugger on the system, and gdb, or dbx (on Solaris systems) must be available in the \fB$PATH\fR. -If the Director or Storage daemon runs under a non-root uid, it will -most likely be needed to modify the \fBbtraceback\fR script to elevate +If the Director or Storage daemon runs under a non-root uid, you will +probably need to be modify the \fBbtraceback\fR script to elevate privileges for the call to \fBgdb\fR/\fBdbx\fR, to ensure it has the proper -permissions to debug. +permissions to debug when called by the daemon. -Interactive use of \fBbtraceback\fR is subject to the same risks than live -debugging of any program, which means it could cause Bacula to crash under -rare and abnormal circumstances. Interactive use is not recommended in -production environments. +Although Bacula's use of \fBbtraceback\fR within its exception handlers is +always safe, manual or interactive use of \fBbtraceback\fR is subject to the +same risks than live debugging of any program, which means it could cause +Bacula to crash under rare and abnormal circumstances. Consequently we +do not recommend manual use of \fBbtraceback\fR in production environments +unless it is required for debugging a problem. .SH ENVIRONMENT \fBbtracback\fR relies on \fB$PATH\fR to find the debugger. @@ -63,4 +66,3 @@ This manual page was written by Lucas B. Cohen .SH SEE ALSO .BR "bsmtp" "(1) " - -- 2.39.5