---
name: "watchcatd.conf"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "watchcatd"
version: "1.2.1-4"
release: "Debian 12 (Bookworm)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/watchcatd.conf"
---

# watchcatd.conf(5)

configuration file for watchcatd(8)

## NAME

watchcatd.conf - configuration file for [**watchcatd**(8)](/watchcatd/8.md)

## DESCRIPTION

This file holds all configuartion information for the **watchcat**(8) daemon. Each option must be written on a line by itself. Comments start with a '#' and go up to the end of the line. Blank spaces and empty lines are ignored.

## OPTIONS

The following options are available:

### Global options

This section affects [**watchcatd**(8)](/watchcatd/8.md) as a whole.

- **realtime** = \<**true**\|**false**\>

  Turns real-time mode on or off. On real-time mode, [**watchcatd**(8)](/watchcatd/8.md) will lock itself into memory so it is never swapped out.

- **priority** = \<**schedule priority**\>

  Set the schedule priority for realtime mode. This option has no effect if **realtime** is set to *false*.

- **user** = \<**username**\>

  Defines the name of the unprivileged user [**watchcatd**(8)](/watchcatd/8.md) will run as. This users's home directory will be used for chroot and all groups will be applied.

### Master section

This section defines options that affect the master process of [**watchcatd**(8)](/watchcatd/8.md) .

- **master\_debug\_level** = \<**debug level**\>

  Sets the debug level for the master process. This can be the sum of zero or more of the values below, resulting in a number between 0 and 63.

*1*       Security logs (low volume)

*2*       Sent signal logs (moderate to high volume)

*4*       Failure to send signal logs (low volume)

*8*       Failure on socket read logs (low volume)

*16*      Child death logs (low volume)

*32*      Child finishing logs (low volume)

- **master\_pid\_file** = \<**file name**\>

  The file where the server writes its process ID in, or the directory where it will be crested.

### Slave section

This section defines options that affect the slave process of [**watchcatd**(8)](/watchcatd/8.md) .

- **slave\_debug\_level** = \<**debug level**\>

  Sets the debug level for the slave process. This can be the sum of zero or more of the values below, resulting in a number between 0 and 2015.

*1*       Creation/termination of a cat process logs (high volume)

*2*       Header parsing error logs (high volume)

*4*       Communication failure with an existing cat. Basically\
         this means socket errors (high volume)

*8*       Communication timeout logs (low volume)

*16*      Security logs (low volume)

*64*      Critical failure logs (low volume)

*128*     Warning logs (low to moderate volume)

*256*     Connection attempt logs (low to moderate volume)

*512*     Successful connection logs (high volume)

*1024*    Successful fetching of Process ID logs (high volume)

Note that the value *32* currently has no use.

- **slave\_device** = \<**device**\>

  Defines the absolute path for the watchcat device.

- **slave\_max\_connections** = \<**max. connections**\>

  Defines the maximum number of client connections that the slave will handle.

- **slave\_max\_connections\_per\_pid** = \<**max. per pid**\>

  Defines the maximum number of connections per client that the slave will handle. Use zero for unlimited.

## EXAMPLE

There's a complete example configuration file in /etc/watchcatd.conf. It is included with this package.

## FILES

*/etc/watchcatd.conf*

The [**watchcatd**(8)](/watchcatd/8.md) configuration file

## SEE ALSO

[**watchcatd**(8)](/watchcatd/8.md)