Merge branch 'collectd-5.7' into collectd-5.8

[collectd.git] / src / collectd-python.pod

diff --git a/src/collectd-python.pod b/src/collectd-python.pod
index 0202b77..1f46f6f 100644 (file)
--- a/src/collectd-python.pod
+++ b/src/collectd-python.pod
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ for collectd in Python. This is a lot more efficient than executing a
 Python-script every time you want to read a value with the C<exec plugin> (see
 L<collectd-exec(5)>) and provides a lot more functionality, too.
 
-The minimum required Python version is I<2.3>.
+The minimum required Python version is I<2.6>.
 
 =head1 CONFIGURATION
 
@@ -68,8 +68,10 @@ use multiple B<ModulePath> lines to add more than one directory.
 If a Python script throws an exception it will be logged by collectd with the
 name of the exception and the message. If you set this option to true it will
 also log the full stacktrace just like the default output of an interactive
-Python interpreter. This should probably be set to false most of the time but
-is very useful for development and debugging of new modules.
+Python interpreter. This does not apply to the CollectError exception, which
+will never log a stacktrace.
+This should probably be set to false most of the time but is very useful for
+development and debugging of new modules.
 
 =item B<Interactive> I<bool>
 
@@ -94,11 +96,12 @@ way of entering your commands. The daemonized collectd won't do that.
 
 =item *
 
-B<2.> collectd will block I<SIGINT>. Pressing I<Ctrl+C> will usually cause
+B<2.> Python will be handling I<SIGINT>. Pressing I<Ctrl+C> will usually cause
 collectd to shut down. This would be problematic in an interactive session,
-therefore this signal will be blocked. You can still use it to interrupt
-syscalls like sleep and pause but it won't generate a I<KeyboardInterrupt>
-exception either.
+therefore Python will be handling it in interactive sessions. This allows you
+to use I<Ctrl+C> to interrupt Python code without killing collectd. This also
+means you can catch I<KeyboardInterrupt> exceptions which does not work during
+normal operation.
 
 To quit collectd send I<EOF> (press I<Ctrl+D> at the beginning of a new line).
 
@@ -247,6 +250,18 @@ collectd you're done.
 The following complex types are used to pass values between the Python plugin
 and collectd:
 
+=head2 CollectdError
+
+This is an exception. If any Python script raises this exception it will
+still be treated like an error by collectd but it will be logged as a
+warning instead of an error and it will never generate a stacktrace.
+
+ class CollectdError(Exception)
+
+Basic exception for collectd Python scripts.
+Throwing this exception will not cause a stacktrace to be logged, even if
+LogTraces is enabled in the config.
+
 =head2 Signed
 
 The Signed class is just a long. It has all its methods and behaves exactly
@@ -474,7 +489,7 @@ Methods defined here:
 
 =over 4
 
-=item B<dispatch>([type][, values][, plugin_instance][, type_instance][, plugin][, host][, time][, interval]) -> None.  Dispatch a value list.
+=item B<dispatch>([type][, message][, plugin_instance][, type_instance][, plugin][, host][, time][, severity][, meta]) -> None.  Dispatch a notification.
 
 Dispatch this instance to the collectd process. The object has members for each
 of the possible arguments for this method. For a detailed explanation of these
@@ -500,6 +515,16 @@ generated.
 The severity of this notification. Assign or compare to I<NOTIF_FAILURE>,
 I<NOTIF_WARNING> or I<NOTIF_OKAY>.
 
+=item meta
+
+These are the meta data for the Notification object.
+It has to be a dictionary of numbers, strings or bools. All keys must be
+strings. I<int> and I<long> objects will be dispatched as signed integers unless
+they are between 2**63 and 2**64-1, which will result in a unsigned integer.
+One of these storage classes can be forced by using the classes
+B<collectd.Signed> and B<collectd.Unsigned>. A meta object received by a
+notification callback will always contain B<Signed> or B<Unsigned> objects.
+
 =back
 
 =head1 FUNCTIONS
@@ -679,22 +704,6 @@ To register those functions with collectd:
 See the section L<"CLASSES"> above for a complete documentation of the data
 types used by the read, write and match functions.
 
-=head1 NOTES
-
-=over 4
-
-=item *
-
-Please feel free to send in new plugins to collectd's mailing list at
-E<lt>collectdE<nbsp>atE<nbsp>collectd.orgE<gt> for review and, possibly,
-inclusion in the main distribution. In the latter case, we will take care of
-keeping the plugin up to date and adapting it to new versions of collectd.
-
-Before submitting your plugin, please take a look at
-L<http://collectd.org/dev-info.shtml>.
-
-=back
-
 =head1 CAVEATS
 
 =over 4
@@ -732,7 +741,7 @@ dispatched by the python plugin after upgrades.
 =item *
 
 Not all aspects of the collectd API are accessible from Python. This includes
-but is not limited to filters and data sets.
+but is not limited to filters.
 
 =back