August 30, 1992

TasqWatch is a freely redistributable program.  To the extent that I have
such authority, I place it in the public domain.  I request, however, that
this file be included with it when distributed.  While it is a product of
my own work, it benefits greatly from examples contained in _AmigaDOS
Inside & Out_, Kerkloh, Tornsdorf, and Zoller, Abacus, 1989.

I make no warranties or guaranties, express or implied, as to it's
usefulness, performance, or operation.  I will not be held responsible for
any damage resulting from it's use.

What it does:  At periodic intervals, TasqWatch scans all the tasks
               currently loaded.  It then writes a report of what it found
               (including task name, priority, and address) to a
               time-stamped file.  The file is overwritten each time, so it
               does not grow without bound.

Why:           I could never figure out what to do with the information
               contained in the Software Failure Alert (Guru), because by
               the time I got it it was too late to do me any good.  With
               TasqWatch, one has the chance of finding out which program
               caused the failure by comparing the address provided in the
               alert to the addresses recorded in the report.

How to use it: NOTE: TasqWatch is designed to run in the background, and
                     *only* from the CLI.  (It may be run from the
                     WorkBench, but then the only way to stop it is to
                     reboot.)

               The CLI syntax for TasqWatch is:

                         TasqWatch [scan_period [output_file]]

               scan_period:  An integer of between 1 and 3 digits.  It
                             specifies the number of seconds TasqWatch is to
                             wait between scans.  DEFAULT 180.

               output_file:  The name of the file TasqWatch is to write its
                             reports to.  DEFAULT:  SYS:TasqWatch.rpt
                             NOTE:  In order to change the output_file
                             name, a value for scan_period MUST be included
                             on the command line.

How to stop it:  Run TasqWatch again.  If TasqWatch finds another copy of
                 itself loaded during one of its scans, it will kill the
                 other copy and commit suicide.

WARNING:         If any other program creates a task with a name containing
                 the string "TasqWatch" results will be unpredictable.

                 I have noticed, but been unable so far to figure out why
                 it seems to be incompatible with the SAS/C v 5.10b
                 compiler/linker (that is, the system locks up if I try to
                 run both at the same time), even though TasqWatch was
                 compiled using this product.

Performance:   I really don't know.  It works fine with a scan_period of 30
               seconds on my A2000 equipped with the original GVP 030 board.
               But, wouldn't you know it, my system hasn't "gurued" since I
               started running TasqWatch.  I compiled it with the "any
               processor" option, however it may not be compatible with pre
               2.x versions of the OS.  The first pass by TasqWatch is made
               at priority 0, then TasqWatch waits at priority -5, and
               conducts subsequent scans at priority 5 -- during a scan, it
               disables interrupt processing.

               I would like very much to find out how it works for you.  I
               would appreciate feedback at GEnie: D.HIGGINS1