procps/FAQ

Why does "ps -aux" complain about a bogus '-'?

According to the POSIX and UNIX standards, the above command asks to display
all processes with a TTY (generally the commands users are running) plus all
processes owned by a user named "x". If that user doesn't exist, then ps will
assume you really meant "ps aux". The warning is given to gently break you of a
habit that will cause you trouble if a user named "x" were created.


Why don't I see SMP (per-CPU) stats in top?

You didn't enable it. Press '?' for built-in help or read the man page. Per-CPU
stats are disabled by default because they take up too much space. Some Linux
systems have hundreds of CPUs.


Why do long usernames get printed as numbers?

The UNIX and POSIX standards require that user names and group names be printed
as decimal integers when there is not enough room in the column. Truncating the
names, besides being a violation of the standard, would lead to confusion
between names like MichelleRichards and MichelleRichardson. The UNIX and POSIX
way to change column width is to rename the column:

     ps -o pid,user=CumbersomeUserNames -o comm

The easy way is to directly specify the desired width:

     ps -o pid,user:19,comm


Why is %CPU underreported for multi-threaded (Java, etc.) apps?

You need to upgrade to the 2.6.10 kernel at least. Older kernels do not provide
a reasonable way to get this information.


Why do ps and top show threads individually?

The 2.4.xx kernel does not provide proper support for grouping threads by
process. Hacks exist to group them anyway, but such hacks will falsely group
similar tasks and will fail to group tasks due to race conditions. The hacks
are also slow. As none of this is acceptable in a critical system tool, task
grouping is not currently available for the 2.4.xx kernel. The 2.6.xx kernel
allows for proper thread grouping and reporting. To take advantage of this,
your programs must use a threading library that features the CLONE_THREAD flag.
The NPTL pthreads provided by recent glibc releases use CLONE_THREAD.


What systems are supported?

Linux 2.4.xx and 2.6.xx are commonly tested and expected to work well. SMP is
well supported. Multi-node cluster views require a multi-node /proc filesystem;
without that you will see a single-node view.


Where to I send bug reports?

You may use the Debian bug tracking system or send your report to
procps@freelists.org (no subscription required) instead.


Why are there so many procps projects?

The original maintainer seems to have had little time for procps. Whatever his
reasons, the project didn't get maintained. Starting in 1997, Albert Cahalan
wrote a new ps program for the package. For the next few years, Albert quietly
helped the Debian package maintainer fix bugs. In 2001, Rik van Riel decided to
do something about what appeared to be the lack of a maintainer. He picked up
the buggy old code in Red Hat's CVS and started adding patches. Meanwhile,
other people have patched procps in a great many ways.

In 2002, Albert moved procps to http://procps.sourceforge.net. This was done to
ensure that years of testing and bug fixes would not be lost. The major version
number was changed to 3, partly to avoid confusing users and partly because the
top program had been redone.

After development essentially stopped on sourceforge.net, in 2011 the project
found a new home at http://gitorious.org/procps. This represents the Debian,
Fedora and openSUSE fork of procps. To avoid confusion and potential name
clashes the package is now known as procps-ng (next generation), the version
number was raised to 3.3.0 and the library soname changed to libproc-ng-3.3.0.


What is being done to procps-ng at its new home?

All programs are in the process of being modernized, both in terms of coding
style and supporting documentation. Autotools have been integrated and the
library API has been expanded with many new fields supported such as control
groups, supplementary groups, etc. The top program has been rewritten offering
many new capabilities while providing performance improvements up to 300%.


Why does ps get signal 17?

No ps release has ever had this problem. Most likely your system has been
broken into. You might want to install a more recent version of the OS. If
you'd rather take your chances, simply upgrade procps.