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+#!/usr/bin/perl
+
+=head1 NAME
+
+loadcheck
+
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
+
+Only takes email transactions if the system load is at or below a
+specified level.  
+
+If this is running on a system that provides /kern/loadavg or 
+/proc/loadavg it will be used instead of the 'uptime' command.
+
+Once a load value is determined, it is cached for a period of time.
+See the cache_time below.
+
+Since fork/exec is expensive in perl you'll want to use cache_time to avoid increasing your load on every connection by checking system load.
+
+=head1 CONFIG
+
+max_load
+
+  This is the 1 minute system load where we won't take transactions
+if our load is higher than this value.  (Default: 7)
+
+cache_time
+
+  A recently determined load value will be cached and used for the
+assigned number of seconds.  (Default: 10)
+
+uptime
+
+  The path to the command 'uptime' if different than the default.  
+(Default: /usr/bin/uptime)
+
+Example:
+
+loadcheck cache_time 30
+
+loadcheck max_load 7 uptime /usr/bin/uptime
+
+=head1 SEE ALSO
+
+Original version: http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.qpsmtpd/2006/01/msg4422.html
+
+Variant with caching: http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.qpsmtpd/2006/03/msg4710.html
+
+Steve Kemp's announcement of an alternate load limiter: http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.qpsmtpd/2008/03/msg7814.html
+
+=head1 AUTHOR
+
+Written by Peter Eisch <peter@boku.net>.
+
+=cut
+
+my $VERSION = 0.02;
+
+sub register {
+  my ($self, $qp, @args) = @_;
+
+  %{$self->{_args}} = @args;
+
+  $self->{_args}->{max_load} = 7
+      if (! defined $self->{_args}->{max_load});
+
+  $self->{_args}->{uptime} = '/usr/bin/uptime'
+      if (! defined $self->{_args}->{uptime});
+  
+  $self->{_args}->{cache_time} = 10
+      if (! defined $self->{_args}->{cache_time});
+
+  $self->{_load} = -1;
+  $self->{_time} = 0;
+
+  $self->register_hook("connect", "loadcheck");
+}
+
+sub loadcheck {
+  my ($self, $transaction) = @_;
+
+  if (time() > ($self->{_time} + $self->{_args}->{cache_time})) {
+      # cached value expired
+
+      if ( -r '/kern/loadavg' ) { # *BSD
+	  # contains fix-point scaling value
+	  open(LD, "</kern/loadavg");
+	  my $res = <LD>;
+	  close LD;
+	  my @vals = split(/ /, $res);
+	  $self->{_load} = ($val[0] / $val[3]);
+	  $self->{_time} = time();
+	  $self->log(LOGDEBUG, "/kern/loadavg reported: $self->{_load}");
+      } elsif ( -r '/proc/loadavg' ) { # *inux
+	  # contains decimal value
+	  # contains fix-point scaling value
+	  open(LD, "</proc/loadavg");
+	  my $res = <LD>;
+	  close LD;
+	  $self->{_load} = (split(/ /, $res))[0];
+	  $self->{_time} = time();
+	  $self->log(LOGDEBUG, "/proc/loadavg reported: $self->{_load}");
+      } else {
+	  # the various formats returned:
+	  #10:33AM  up  2:06, 1 user, load averages: 6.55, 3.76, 2.48
+	  # 12:29am  2 users,  load average: 0.05, 0.05, 0.06
+	  # 12:30am  up 5 days, 12:43,  1 user,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
+	  
+	  my $res = `$self->{_args}->{uptime}`;
+	  if ($res =~ /aver\S+: (\d+\.\d+)/) {
+	      $self->{_load} = $1;
+	      $self->{_time} = time();
+	      $self->log(LOGDEBUG, "$self->{_args}->{uptime} reported: $self->{_load}");
+	  }
+      }
+  }
+
+  if ($self->{_load} > $self->{_args}->{max_load}) {
+      $self->log(LOGERROR, "local load too high: $self->{_load}");
+      return DENYSOFT;
+  }
+
+  return (DECLINED, "continuing with load: $self->{_load}");
+}
+