Command line and full screen utilities for browsing procfs, a "pseudo" file system dynamically generated by Linux to provide information about the status of entries in its process table.
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Jim Warner 55a42ae040 top: allow more flexible approach for startup defaults
Those references below offer more detail regarding the
default startup changes beginning with version 3.3.10.

It is important to remember that all such changes were
supposed to impact only new users or users who had not
saved the personal config file (via that 'W' command).
However, I introduced a bug wherein the rcfile was not
fully honored. This gave the changes a bad reputation.

That bug was corrected in release 3.3.11 but the issue
of default startup options keeps resurfacing. And it's
clear there's no consensus on what should be included.

Our --disable-modern-top configure option is of little
help since it remains an all-or-nothing approach. What
we need is an answer offering unlimited customization.
So, this commit will provide distribution packagers or
system administrators with a much more flexible way to
set their own preferred startup default configuration.

A new rcfile is being introduced: '/etc/topdefaultrc',
whose format/content is the same as a personal rcfile.
Thus once a 'proper' enterprise configuration has been
established and saved via 'W', it can be copied to the
/etc/ directory. Thereafter, startup in the absence of
a saved rcfile will use that configuration as default.

Now if a distribution packager or system administrator
wishes to expose their users to some of top's advanced
capabilities they can do so gradually. Perhaps setting
up graph mode for summary area task and memory display
while retaining the %CPU sort could be tried. Or maybe
showing colors, but better customized for a particular
terminal emulator. Such possibilities are now endless.

[ in exploiting this new capability, i hope that the ]
[ other windows (alt display mode) aren't overlooked ]

Reference(s):
. Sep, 2014 - Not fully honoring rcfile bug discussed
https://www.freelists.org/post/procps/top-saved-rcfile-bug
. Oct, 2014 - Attempt to defend new startup defaults
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1153049
. Jul, 2015 - Forest vs. %CPU views discussion
https://gitlab.com/procps-ng/procps/issues/6
. Oct, 2017 - Question the use of --disable-modern-top
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1499410
. Oct, 2017 - Forest vs. %CPU views discussion again
https://www.freelists.org/post/procps/Forest-mode-by-default-in-top-seems-a-bit-strange
. Dec, 2017 - Rehash of 3.3.10 startup defaults change
https://gitlab.com/procps-ng/procps/issues/78

Signed-off-by: Jim Warner <james.warner@comcast.net>
2017-12-23 17:44:34 +11:00
contrib
doc documentation: Update pids manual pages 2017-01-05 09:44:04 +11:00
Documentation miscellaneous: remove some trailing whitespace buildup 2015-06-20 07:46:23 +10:00
include tests: update template and add pids 2016-04-19 21:33:02 +10:00
lib kill: -l space between name parses correctly 2017-05-22 22:15:59 +10:00
man-po ps: recognize SCHED_DEADLINE 2016-11-21 21:56:37 +11:00
misc
po free: french translation alignment 2016-08-23 20:46:17 +10:00
proc library: Explicit about task ID string length 2017-12-20 21:37:01 +11:00
ps ps: don't use '+' truncation indicator with multi-byte 2017-10-02 22:23:13 +11:00
testsuite Port of merge request 49 to newlib 2017-08-19 23:05:22 +10:00
top top: allow more flexible approach for startup defaults 2017-12-23 17:44:34 +11:00
.gitignore Port of merge request 49 to newlib 2017-08-19 23:05:22 +10:00
.gitlab-ci.yml test: Update gitlab CI YAML to use shared runner 2016-04-20 22:20:55 +10:00
AUTHORS Changed git site to gitlab 2015-05-10 14:57:50 +10:00
autogen.sh
ChangeLog Changed git site to gitlab 2015-05-10 14:57:50 +10:00
configure.ac Port of merge request 49 to newlib 2017-08-19 23:05:22 +10:00
COPYING
COPYING.LIB
create-man-pot.sh docs: with systemd now in library, remember openproc.3 2014-07-18 20:49:57 +02:00
free.1 watch,free: interpet intervals in non-locale way 2016-07-03 16:20:48 +10:00
free.c misc: adapt 3 programs to some enum changes, <meminfo> 2017-06-04 21:36:23 +10:00
INSTALL.md docs: Updated documentation 2015-05-10 17:23:54 +10:00
kill.1
kill.c kill: -l space between name parses correctly 2017-05-22 22:15:59 +10:00
Makefile.am library: actually remove those alloc.h & alloc.c files 2017-12-20 21:18:53 +11:00
NEWS top: allow more flexible approach for startup defaults 2017-12-23 17:44:34 +11:00
pgrep.1 docs: Update pgrep.1 example to more modern browser 2017-12-22 15:10:54 +11:00
pgrep.c pkill: Return 0 if successfully killed process 2017-02-04 12:00:24 +11:00
pidof.1
pidof.c related: respond to VAL macro addition of context parm 2016-08-07 21:40:48 +10:00
pkill.1
pmap.1
pmap.c pmap: fix printing bug associated with the '-x' option 2016-09-11 09:31:05 +10:00
pwdx.1
pwdx.c Handle out of memory conditions. 2015-07-11 21:28:47 +02:00
README.md misc: eliminate accumulated trailing whitespace, again 2016-03-12 14:53:53 +11:00
skill.1
skill.c Port of merge request 49 to newlib 2017-08-19 23:05:22 +10:00
slabtop.1 procps: Add a zero-width break point in slabtop.1 2015-06-01 22:04:40 +10:00
slabtop.c misc: eliminate all those remaining gcc -Wall warnings 2017-05-22 21:38:10 +10:00
snice.1
sysctl.8 docs: Fix typos in slabtop.1, sysctl.8 and uptime.1 2014-09-16 19:35:28 +02:00
sysctl.c Avoid confusing messages caused by EIO on reading 2017-08-20 09:22:58 +10:00
sysctl.conf
sysctl.conf.5 misc: remove some newly introduced trailing whitespace 2016-09-26 07:40:45 +10:00
tload.1
tload.c Fix out of boundary write on 1x1 terminals 2017-08-19 23:10:26 +10:00
translate-man.sh
uptime.1 docs: Fix typos in slabtop.1, sysctl.8 and uptime.1 2014-09-16 19:35:28 +02:00
uptime.c library: cleanup of library includes 2016-04-16 17:03:57 +10:00
vmstat.8
vmstat.c vmstat: respond to enhanced <slabinfo> parameter check 2017-12-20 21:18:54 +11:00
w.1 w: correct program help & man page regarding arguments 2015-09-07 18:11:48 +10:00
w.c related: fix inconsistencies in result type references 2016-08-07 21:40:48 +10:00
watch.1 documentation: Update watch man page 2016-07-03 16:20:58 +10:00
watch.c watch: Support ANSI 39,49 reset sequences 2017-12-20 22:13:31 +11:00

build status procps

procps is a set of command line and full-screen utilities that provide information out of the pseudo-filesystem most commonly located at /proc. This filesystem provides a simple interface to the kernel data structures. The programs of procps generally concentrate on the structures that describe the processess running on the system.

The following programs are found in procps:

  • free - Report the amount of free and used memory in the system
  • kill - Send a signal to a process based on PID
  • pgrep - List processes based on name or other attributes
  • pkill - Send a signal to a process based on name or other attributes
  • pmap - Report memory map of a process
  • ps - Report information of processes
  • pwdx - Report current directory of a process
  • skill - Obsolete version of pgrep/pkill
  • slabtop - Display kernel slab cache information in real time
  • snice - Renice a process
  • sysctl - Read or Write kernel parameters at run-time
  • tload - Graphical representation of system load average
  • top - Dynamic real-time view of running processes
  • uptime - Display how long the system has been running
  • vmstat - Report virtual memory statistics
  • w - Report logged in users and what they are doing
  • watch - Execute a program periodically, showing output fullscreen

Reporting Bugs

There are a few ways of reporting bugs or feature requests:

  1. Your distributions bug reporter. If you are using a distribution your first port of call is their bug tracker. This is because each distribution has their own patches and way of dealing with bugs. Also bug reporting often does not need any subscription to websites.
  2. GitLab Issues - To the left of this page is the issue tracker. You can report bugs here.
  3. Email list - We have an email list (see below) where you can report bugs. The problem with this method is bug reports often get lost and cannot be tracked. This is especially a big problem when its something that will take time to resolve.

If you need to report bugs, there is more details on the Bug Reporting page.

Email List

The email list for the developers and users of procps is found at http://www.freelists.org/archive/procps/ This email list discusses the development of procps and is used by distributions to also forward or discuss bugs.