[mrtg] Configuring MRTG/rrdtool with <1 minute intervals

[Steve Shipway]

> No, you're not behind the times on them.  Neither of those projects has
> seen an update since 2003.  mrtg-rrd is particularly broken - it uses
> its own parser rather than relying on the one in MRTG_lib.pm, so it
> can't keep up with new features in later versions of mrtg without
> serious hacking.

To be completely honest, Routers2 also uses its own parser.  The reason for this is that it predates the introduction of the MRTG_lib.pm module, and as a result has slightly different parsing rules which I cannot change.  The largest difference is that Routers2 allows multiple use of some directives (eg: routers.cgi*Graph[] and routers.cgi*Extension[]) which is incompatible with the MRTG_lib parser syntax.

Adding support for new MRTG directives (and Tobi keeps adding new features so fast) is always a difficult problem.  There are also changes to support in new versions of RRDTool and new features that I'd like to take advantage of.  There are also a few cases where I added a new feature to Routers2 using my syntax, and a bit later Tobi added it to MRTG, but with his syntax, so I have to support both.

> We're all counting on you, Steve!  Thanks for being an active
> maintainer.

A bit less active recently, I'm afraid, due to 'real' work pressure and having a (second) new baby in the family.  It's been going on for more than 8 years now though, which is pretty good for an Open Source project (MRTG has managed 13 years, I believe)

I should be able to make v2.18 support the new number format easily enough, however adding smaller graphs than the existing 6-hour is going to have to wait.

If anyone is planning on attending LISA08, I will be there, possibly running an MRTG/RRD/Routers2 tutorial and BoF session.

Steve