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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The original approach contained a fatal flaw. In order to use those man pages, users would have been required to already know how to use the library. Or alternately one could randomly search each of them while trying to ascertain which function call satisfies their need and what exactly was the proper compliment/order required. So, this revised approach tries to simplify things and document only what is not apparent in the header file. Along the way, the following assumptions were germane. 1) It is the kernel folks' job to document /proc files not to mention fields within those files. And since we don't yet know what some of those fields represent, we shouldn't attempt to document any of those we do know. 2) Our header file serves as an essential reference in successful exploitation of this new library interface. 3) The description represents functions as they appear in the header itself making them immediately familiar. 4) Armed with our header file users can easily see the self-documenting enumerators & structures. There isn't a need to explain them yet again in this man document. 5) Contrary to man guidelines, we shouldn't list error codes. Simple generic guidance serves everyone better. The following references represent a history for those man documents this new version is intended to replace. Reference(s): . 04/18/16, create libproc.3 + procps_pids_new.3 commit |
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|---|---|---|
| contrib | ||
| doc | ||
| Documentation | ||
| include | ||
| lib | ||
| man-po | ||
| misc | ||
| po | ||
| proc | ||
| ps | ||
| testsuite | ||
| top | ||
| .gitignore | ||
| .gitlab-ci.yml | ||
| AUTHORS | ||
| autogen.sh | ||
| ChangeLog | ||
| configure.ac | ||
| COPYING | ||
| COPYING.LIB | ||
| create-man-pot.sh | ||
| free.1 | ||
| free.c | ||
| INSTALL.md | ||
| kill.1 | ||
| kill.c | ||
| Makefile.am | ||
| NEWS | ||
| pgrep.1 | ||
| pgrep.c | ||
| pidof.1 | ||
| pidof.c | ||
| pkill.1 | ||
| pmap.1 | ||
| pmap.c | ||
| pwdx.1 | ||
| pwdx.c | ||
| README.md | ||
| skill.1 | ||
| skill.c | ||
| slabtop.1 | ||
| slabtop.c | ||
| snice.1 | ||
| sysctl.8 | ||
| sysctl.c | ||
| sysctl.conf | ||
| sysctl.conf.5 | ||
| tload.1 | ||
| tload.c | ||
| translate-man.sh | ||
| uptime.1 | ||
| uptime.c | ||
| vmstat.8 | ||
| vmstat.c | ||
| w.1 | ||
| w.c | ||
| watch.1 | ||
| watch.c | ||
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:
- 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.
- GitLab Issues - To the left of this page is the issue tracker. You can report bugs here.
- 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.