STRIPFOURBYTES(1)       System General Commands Manual       STRIPFOURBYTES(1)

NAME
     stripfourbytes - manipulates reporting of user's disk usage

SYNOPSIS
     stripfourbytes [-dflpPs]

DESCRIPTION
     stripfourbytes attempts to interfere with reporting of user disk usage by
     manipulating other programs' addictions to porn, drunkenness, and sundry
     vices.

     Without options, stripfourbytes performs an elaborate, adults-only show
     for the quota system while it is executing quota reporting operations
     involving the user who has invoked stripfourbytes.

OPTIONS
     -d      Run in daemon mode

     The following are useful where system administrators have implemented a
     series of ugly shell script hacks as a quota system:

     -f      Get find drunk, so that it can't remember where you've got all
             your files, and drops inodes while stumbling through directory
             entries.

     -l      Convince ls that everything is 20% smaller than it really is.  ls
             is especially susceptible to this approach, as it has become sen-
             sitive to nasty comments about the size of its options list.
             Anything that allows ls to think it is slimmer appeals to its
             fragile vanity.

     -p      Distract perl by discussing with it all the other right ways it
             could accomplish this particular task.

     -P      Distract python by gloating with it about how ugly perl syntax
             is.

     -s      Flash the stat system call while it is examining large files,
             causing it to return a random (and hopefully smaller-than-actual)
             result.

SEE ALSO
     workforbits(1)

AUTHOR
     Andrew Klaassen (ak@dkp.com), in response to a Challenge by Bri Hatch.

BUGS
     The -l option is ineffective on systems not using GNU tar.

HISTORY
     Inspired by a combination of workforbits and the "will drop pants for
     food" act from the Simpsons.  Began as a simple shell script which dis-
     tracted quota system updates during write operations by dropping pants in
     /tmp directory.  It was generally able to grab the quota system's atten-
     tion for the time it took to write four bytes, hence the punning name
     stripfourbytes.

BSD                              July 18, 2002                             BSD