=head1 DESCRIPTION
-The C<exec plugin> forks of an executable either to receive values or to
+The C<exec plugin> forks off an executable either to receive values or to
dispatch notifications to the outside world. The syntax of the configuration is
explained in L<collectd.conf(5)> but summarized in the above synopsis.
See L<EXEC DATA FORMAT> below for a description of the output format expected
from these programs.
-B<Warning:> If the executable only writes one value and then exits I will be
+B<Warning:> If the executable only writes one value and then exits it will be
executed every I<Interval> seconds. If I<Interval> is short (the default is 10
seconds) this may result in serious system load.
=item B<PUTVAL> I<Identifier> [I<OptionList>] I<Valuelist>
Submits one or more values (identified by I<Identifier>, see below) to the
-daemon which will dispatch it to all it's write-plugins.
+daemon which will dispatch it to all its write-plugins.
An I<Identifier> is of the form
C<I<host>B</>I<plugin>B<->I<instance>B</>I<type>B<->I<instance>> with both
an integer if the data-source is a counter, or a double if the data-source is
of type "gauge". You can submit an undefined gauge-value by using B<U>. When
submitting B<U> to a counter the behavior is undefined. The time is given as
-epoch (i.E<nbsp>e. standard UNIX time).
+epoch (i.E<nbsp>e. standard UNIX time) or B<N> to use the current time.
You can mix options and values, but the order is important: Options only
effect following values, so specifying an option as last field is allowed, but
=over 4
-=item
+=item *
The user, the binary is executed as, may not have root privileges, i.E<nbsp>e.
must have an UID that is non-zero. This is for your own good.
-=item
+=item *
Early versions of the plugin did not use a command but treated all lines as if
they were arguments to the I<PUTVAL> command. When the I<PUTNOTIF> command was