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+sniffa
+======
+
+sniffa is a small utility that allows you to watch Discuss forums for keywords.
+
+Every time it is invoked, it checks for new posts matching the keywords and creates a notification in the Mac OS X notification bar.
+
+# Requirements
+
+* Mac OS X 10.8 or later: As it uses Mac OS X notifications, sniffa works only on Mac OS X 10.8 or later.
+* Python 3
+* certifi: Install with `pip3 install certifi`
+* pync: Install with `pip3 install pync`
+
+# Installation
+
+Ensure that all prerequisites are installed, then copy `sniffa.py` to any directory, e.g. `~/bin` and run `chmod u+x sniffa.py`.
+
+# Usage
+
+sniffa can be used to query multiple Discuss forums. The keywords and the ids of all already seen posts are maintained in a file `~/.sniffa/watch-$(FORUM_NAME).ini`, where `$(FORUM_NAME)` is a name that you can choose to identify this forum.
+
+## Example
+
+Consider you want to watch for the keywords "Rally" and "JMeter" in the Elastic Discuss forum at https://discuss.elastic.co.
+
+1. Create `~/.sniffa/watch-elastic.ini`
+2. Add the following lines:
+
+```
+[sniffa.domain]
+url = https://discuss.elastic.co
+
+[Rally]
+
+[JMeter]
+```
+
+Now invoke sniffa: ``python3 sniffa.py elastic``. It will load the watches file for the forum named "elastic", check for new posts (which will be a lot at the first time) and show a notice for each of them in the Mac OS X notification bar.
+
+## Automatic regular invocation
+
+Quite likely you don't want to invoke sniffa manually every time you want to check for new posts. Therefore, you can install sniffa as a launch agent.
+
+Create a new file in `~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.github.sniffa.plist` with the following contents:
+
+```plist
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
+<plist version="1.0">
+<dict>
+  <key>Label</key>
+  <string>org.github.sniffa</string>
+
+  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
+  <array>
+    <string>~/bin/sniffa.py</string>
+    <string>elastic</string>
+  </array>
+
+  <key>Nice</key>
+  <integer>1</integer>
+
+  <key>StartInterval</key>
+  <integer>7200</integer>
+
+  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
+  <true/>
+
+  <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
+  <string>~/.sniffa/sniffa-elastic.err.log</string>
+
+  <key>StandardOutPath</key>
+  <string>~/.sniffa/sniffa-elastic.out.log</string>
+</dict>
+</plist>
+```
+
+Change the paths depending on the install location of sniffa and also your domain parameter. 
+
+With this plist file, sniffa will check the Elastic Discuss forum every two hours (7200 seconds) for new posts.
+
+Finally register the launch agent with Mac OS X:
+
+```
+launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.github.sniffa.plist
+```
+
+After a restart, Mac OS X will pick up the plist file automatically.
+
+If you are interested in more details about launch agents, check [Alvin Alexander's blog post about plist files](http://alvinalexander.com/mac-os-x/mac-osx-startup-crontab-launchd-jobs) (on which this description is based).
+
+# License
+
+'sniffa' is distributed under the terms of the [Apache Software Foundation license, version 2.0](http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html).