6. Wait on file check
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## 6. Wait on file check

As of version 4.0, samhain allows to perform a wait on check operation which waits on the end of the current filesystem scan and indicates the result via the exit status:

samhain -w `seconds`

The argument for this option is the timeout. The maximum timeout value is 86400 (one day). A timeout of zero is interpreted as no timeout. A negative timeout is interpreted in the following way:

1. First, wait until the Samhain daemon has initalized.

2. Then, wait for the end of the filesystem scan with a timeout of (abs(seconds) - 1). I.e. a timeout of -1 will become 0, a timeout of -601 seconds will become 600 seconds.

The exit status has the following meaning:

`0`

  The deamon currently performs no file system scan, and no issues have been reported in the last scan.

`1`

  The deamon currently performs no file system scan, and one or more issues have been reported in the preceding scan.

`2`

  The wait operation has timed out while the deamon was performing a file system scan.

`3`

  An error has occured. Usually this would be either an access error (the wait operation needs at least group privilege), or a non-negative argument has been given and the deamon has not yet initialized (or isn't running).

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