WATCHDOGCTL(1) General Commands Manual (smm) WATCHDOGCTL(1)

watchdogctl —
Status and control tool for watchdogd

watchdogctl [
-hjvV
] [
-c CODE
] [
-p PID
] [
clear
] [
disable | enable
] [
debug
] [
loglevel LEVEL
] [
list-clients
] [
reload
] [
reset [
MSEC
] [
MSG
]
] [
fail [
MSEC
] [
MSG
]
] [
status
]

watchdogctl provides a safe way of querying status and controlling watchdogd(8).

--code CODE
Reset reason codes for fail command:
System OK
PID failed subscribing
PID failed kick
PID failed unsubscribing
PID failed to meet its deadline
Forced reset
Failed, unknown
File descriptor leak
Memory leak
CPU overload
Codes can also be listed at runtime with: -c help
--help
Show help message.
--json
Output in JSON format for supported commands. Currently supported by list-clients and status.
--pid PID
PID to use for fail and reset command.
--verbose
Enable verbose mode, otherwise commands are silent.
--version
Show version information.

Short forms of the below commands are allowed, as long as it is unique.
Clear reset reason, including reset counter.
Show reset counter, number of reboots since power-on.
Toggle daemon debug log level. See also the loglevel command.
|
Temporarily disable, or enable, daemon.
LEVEL
Adjust daemon log level: none, err, warn, notice, info, debug.
List currently subscribed clients to the process supervisor. Shows each client's ID, name (label), process ID, configured timeout, and time remaining until timeout. Use the -j, --json option for JSON output suitable for scripting and monitoring.
Reload daemon configuration file, like sending SIGHUP, but the command does not return until watchdogd has completed.
[
MSEC
] [
MSG
]
Alias to reset.
[
MSEC
] [
MSG
]
Perform system reset, with an optional millisecond delay and an optional message to be stored as the reset reason label (usually process name). A zero MSEC argument is the same as omitting the argument, leading to an immediate reset. On systems with finit(8), watchdogd will ask Finit to do an orderly shutdown (stop services, sync and unmount all file systems) before performing the WDT reset.
[
MSEC
] [
MSG
]
Like the reset command, records reset reason (see above -c -CODE) but does not reboot unless MSEC is given. I.e., omitting the MSEC argument does not have the same effect as in the reset command.
Show daemon status and reason of last reset, default command. Displays device information, capabilities, and reset history in a formatted table. Use the -j, --json option to output raw JSON format. The JSON output shows all configured devices and their status, including capability flags.
Show program version.

/etc/watchdogd.conf
Daemon configuration file. Read once when starting up and on SIGHUP or reload command.
/run/watchdogd/pid
Process ID. Touched as a response to SIGHUP or reload command.
/run/watchdogd/status
Read to present WDT status and reset reason
/run/watchdogd/sock
Used to connect to watchdogd

watchdogd(8) watchdogd.conf(5)

watchdogd is an improved version of the original, created by Michele d'Amico and adapted to uClinux-dist by Mike Frysinger. It is maintained by Joachim Wiberg at GitHub.
November 23, 2025 Debian