Cfengine may be invoked in a number of ways. Here are some examples:
host% cfengine host% cfengine --file myfile host% cfengine -f myfile -v -n host% cfengine --help |
The first of these (the default command, with no arguments) causes
cfengine to look for a file called cfengine.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 cfengine
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 cfengine with a filename, you can also treat
cfengine files as scripts by starting your cfengine program with the
standard shell line:
#!/local/gnu/bin/cfengine -f # # My config script #
Here we assume that you have installed cfengine under the directory
/local/gnu/bin. 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.