freshclam(1)

1freshclam(1)                    Clam AntiVirus                    freshclam(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       freshclam - update virus databases
7

SYNOPSIS

9       freshclam [options]
10

DESCRIPTION

12       freshclam is a virus database update tool for ClamAV.
13

OPTIONS

15       FreshClam reads its configuration from freshclam.conf. The settings can
16       be overwritten with command line options.
17
18       -h, --help
19              Output help information and exit.
20
21       -V, --version
22              Print version number and exit.
23
24       -v, --verbose
25              Be verbose. This option causes freshclam  to  print  much  addi‐
26              tional information.
27
28       --debug
29              Enable debug messages from LibClamAV.
30
31       --quiet
32              Be quiet - output only error messages.
33
34       --no-warnings
35              Don't print and log warnings.
36
37       --stdout
38              Write all messages to stdout.
39
40       --show-progress
41              Show download progress percentage.
42
43       --config-file=FILE
44              Read configuration from FILE.
45
46       -l FILE, --log=FILE
47              Log report to FILE.
48
49       -d, --daemon
50              Run  in a daemon mode. Defaults to 12 checks per day unless oth‐
51              erwise specified by --checks or freshclam.conf.
52
53       -p FILE, --pid=FILE
54              Write daemon's pid to FILE.
55
56       -F, --foreground
57              Don't fork into background (for use in daemon mode).
58
59       -u USER, --user USER
60              Run as USER. By default (when started by root)  freshclam  drops
61              privileges and operates as the 'clamupdate' user.
62
63       --no-dns
64              This  option  forces  old non-DNS verification method (without a
65              TTL delay).
66
67       -c #n, --checks=#n
68              Check #n times per day for a new database. #n must be between  1
69              and 50.
70
71       --datadir=DIRECTORY
72              Install  new  database  in  DIRECTORY.  The  directory  must  be
73              writable for the 'clamupdate' user or unprivileged user  running
74              freshclam.
75
76       --daemon-notify=/path/to/clamd.conf
77              Notify  the daemon about the new database. By default it reads a
78              hardcoded config file but you can use a different one. Both  lo‐
79              cal and TCP sockets are supported.
80
81       -a IP, --local-address=IP
82              Use  (local)  IP for HTTP downloads. Useful for multi-homed sys‐
83              tems. If binding fails for whatever reason, a warning is  issued
84              and freshclam behaves like without this flag.
85
86       --on-update-execute=COMMAND
87              Execute COMMAND after successful update.
88
89       --on-error-execute=COMMAND
90              Execute COMMAND if error occurred. Remember, that virus database
91              freshness is the most important thing in anti-virus system. With
92              this  option  freshclam  can alert you (eg. send SMS) when some‐
93              thing is going wrong.
94
95       --on-outdated-execute=COMMAND
96              Execute COMMAND when freshclam reports outdated version. In  the
97              command string %v will be replaced by the new version number.
98
99       --update-db=DBNAME
100              With  this  option you can limit updates to a subset of database
101              files.  The  DBNAME  should  be  "main",  "daily",   "bytecode",
102              "safebrowsing"  or one of the 3rd party database names. This op‐
103              tion can be used multiple times and only works with the official
104              and  3rd party databases distributed through the ClamAV mirrors,
105              your  custom  databases  (specified  with  DatabaseCustomURL  in
106              freshclam.conf) will not be ignored.
107
108

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

110       freshclam uses the following environment variables:
111
112       CURL_CA_BUNDLE  -  May be set to the path of a file (bundle) containing
113       one or more CA certificates. This will  override  the  default  openssl
114       certificate path.
115
116              Note  that  the CURL_CA_BUNDLE environment variable is also used
117              by the curl command line tool for the same purpose.
118
119

EXAMPLES

121       (0) Download database to default directory:
122
123              freshclam
124
125       (1) Download database to current directory:
126
127              freshclam --datadir=.
128
129       (2) Run as a daemon and check 2 times per day for new database:
130
131              freshclam -d -c 2
132
133

RETURN CODES

135       Some return codes of freshclam can be overwritten with a built-in  com‐
136       mand EXIT_n which can be passed to --on-*-execute, eg. --on-update-exe‐
137       cute=EXIT_1 will force freshclam to always return  1  after  successful
138       database update.
139
140       0 : Database is up-to-date or successfully updated.
141
142       40: Unknown option passed.
143
144       50: Can't change directory.
145
146       51: Can't check MD5 sum.
147
148       52: Connection (network) problem.
149
150       53: Can't unlink file.
151
152       54: MD5 or digital signature verification error.
153
154       55: Error reading file.
155
156       56: Config file error.
157
158       57: Can't create new file.
159
160       58: Can't read database from remote server.
161
162       59: Mirrors are not fully synchronized (try again later).
163
164       60: Can't get information about 'clamupdate' user from /etc/passwd.
165
166       61: Can't drop privileges.
167
168       62: Can't initialize logger.
169

FILES

171       /etc/freshclam.conf
172

CREDITS

174       Please check the full documentation for credits.
175

AUTHOR

177       Tomasz Kojm <tkojm@clamav.net>, Kevin Lin <klin@sourcefire.com>
178