[f-s-gadget] and [f-s-activity] are probably related to the
File-backed Storage Gadget entry in the log file.
[mmcdd] probably has something to do with the sd slot. Kindle has sd instead of mmc cards, but mmc disk drive/daemon sounds right. There seems to be a asm/arch/mmc.h file in the kernel code. I couldn't be dead certain what it is, but my guess, for what it is worth, is media card driver.
We could go through everything in the list, but I'm betting that netwatchd checks amazon every couple minutes to see if the network connection is available. If amazon is there, say if the network switch is on and you're in a reception area, it probably updates the content list and downloads what it needs to download.
I managed to pluck this out of google cache. It was one of the only content links I found when I searched for netwatchd. As I'll explain below, this is not the same program as is running on the Kindle. I'm merely posting this because I think that it may give an indication of what netwatchd may do on the Kindle.
Quote:
A daemon process to monitor a network connection and take action when a remote host is accessible.
Netwatch - Schedule Jobs To Run Depending On Network State
One of the eternal annoyances of using a laptop that is only occasionally connected to a network is how to schedule jobs so that they only run when connected. Typically, as soon as I connect to my home network, I want to run fetchmail, switch wwwoffle to online mode, and synchronise the system date with my local server. While connected, I want to run fetchmail periodically. In addition, I'd like to ensure that some jobs I would normally schedule with cron, anacron, or at, are run only when connected. For example, once a day or thereabouts I run the fetchnews program for leafnode. All of this I can now achieve with the aid of my perl script, netwatchd.
The netwatch deamon
The netwatch daemon, netwatchd runs continuously in background and periodically performs an arping to a server on the local network. The ip address and interface for the arping are set in the TEST_HOST and TEST_IF variables in netwatchd. If the arping ws successful, netwatchd assumes the network is now connected, otherwise it assumes disconnected. Depending on the current and previous connection status, netwatchd executes scripts found in the following directories:
/var/spool/netwatch/up
Scripts here are run each time the network is found to be connected
/var/spool/netwatch/down
Scripts here are run each time the network is found to be disconnected
/var/spool/netwatch/transition_up
These scripts are run if the network is now connected but was disconnected
/var/spool/netwatch/transition_down
These scripts are run if the network is now disconnected but was connected
/var/spool/netwatch/up_once
These scripts are run and then deleted if the network is connected
/var/spool/netwatch/down_once
These scripts are run and then deleted if the network is disconnected
netwatchd will also perform the network check and run the appropriate scripts if it receives a SIGUSR1, so it can be induced to check the network every time the laptop is awakened from suspend mode by adding the following to /etc/sysconfig/apm-scripts/apmcontinue:
if [ $1 == "resume" ] ; then
if [ -f /var/run/netwatchd.pid ] ; then
kill -USR1 `cat /var/run/netwatchd.pid`
fi
fi
For this to work correctly you should get into the habit of plugging in your network cable before switching the laptop back on
Using Netwatch With cron, anacron, Or at
To run a command the next time the laptop is connected, or the next time after a specified time, use at, cron, or anacron to copy or cat a script into /var/spool/netwatch/up. I keep the most commonly used scripts in /var/spool/netwatch/template and simply copy them from there when required.
Controlling The Daemon
The supplied init script, when copied into /etc/sysconfig/init.d allows the daemon to be controlled by /sbin/service. Link into /etc.sysconfig.rc*.d in the usual manner for automatic start and stop.
Security
It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to realise that on an untrusted system this utility could be a glaring security hole. So please pay attention to the following safegaurds
Make sure that the /var/spool/netwatch/* directories are writeable only by root
Make sure that any scripts you place in the /var/spool/netwatch directories are owned by root and read only
Patch netwatchd to setuid to the owner of a script file if you don't do the above, then mail me your patch ;-)
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I checked the file listing the igorsk placed on his blog. The script folders listed here aren't present on the Kindle's file system. There also isn't a perl install which means that this isn't the perl script described above. That doesn't mean that it couldn't have a similar function. The boot log calls it network connection watchdog. it also lists a copyright to Lab126. It is listed in the Kindle boot log as starting at boot.