PMACCTD PLUGIN WRITING HOW-TO

SHORT OVERVIEW
the plugin architecture should allow people that need some kind of
their own backend, to write and implement it without knowing too
much of the core functionalities of pmacctd and other plugins.
Of course you will need to touch configure.in and Makefile.am in
order to let your plugin compile automatically via a --enable switch. 
Below are listed a few steps to hook your plugin in pmacctd; pmacct 
is a project extremely open to new ideas, so if you wish to contribute
your work, you are welcome. 

- minor hacks to configure.in script following the example of what
  has been done there for mysql plugin; you can handle in the same
  way other requirements such as paths for header or libraries. If
  you'll handle correctly the PLUGINS variable, you will not need
  to touch at all the Makefile.am script. Moreover, doing a definition
  in configure.in (ex. AC_DEFINE(WITH_MYSQL, 1)) whose existence can
  be checked via instructions to compiler's preprocessor is an easy
  way to propagate the user configuration choices at compilation time.

- [OPTIONAL] If you need commandline switches, whose values  need to
  be passed to your plugin, you have to modify the configuration struct
  (in cfg.h) and the getopt block in pmacctd.c . First change is needed
  to add fields you need to carry your values; second change is needed
  if you wish to support new commandline switches to supply your values.

- Now, hook your plugin in pmacctd; you have to add an entry in the
  plugin_types_list[] array in pmacct-data.h . An entry consists of
  two fields: an id string and a pointer to a function to be called.
  The first is the string you wish to write as an argument for '-P'
  commandline switch or value for 'plugins' configuration key. The
  second is the entry point for your plugin.

- if you need to add configuration keys that suit your needs, you have
  simply to add an entry in the dictionary[] array in pmacct-data.h .
  An entry consists of two fields a key name and an handler. While the
  first is intuitive, few words about the second field: once a key has
  been recognized successfully by the parser, its value is handled via
  a configuration handler (you find them in cfg_handlers.c).