Each rule in the policy file specifies a system object to be monitored. Rules also describe which changes to the object to report and which to ignore. System objects are the files and directories you wish to monitor. Each object is identified by an object name. A property refers to a single characteristic of an object that Tripwire software can monitor.
Directives control conditional processing of sets of rules in a policy file.
The database file is a baseline snapshot of the system in a known secure state. Tripwire compares this baseline against the current system to determine what changes have occurred. This comparison is called an integrity check . The report files summarize any file changes that violated the policy file rules during the integrity check. Tripwire generates the necessary configuration file information during installation, but the system administrator can change parameters in the configuration file at any time after that point.