lfs-book/chapter06/procps.xml

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<sect1 id="ch-system-procps" xreflabel="Procps">
<title>Procps-&procps-version;</title>
<?dbhtml filename="procps.html"?>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps"><primary sortas="a-Procps">Procps</primary></indexterm>

<para>The Procps package contains programs for monitoring processes.</para>

<screen>&buildtime; 0.1 SBU
&diskspace; 6.2 MB</screen>

<para>Procps installation depends on: Bash, Binutils, Coreutils, GCC, Glibc,
Make, Ncurses.</para>



<sect2>
<title>Installation of Procps</title>

<para>Compile Procps:</para>

<screen><userinput>make</userinput></screen>

<para>Install it:</para>

<screen><userinput>make install</userinput></screen>

<para>Remove a spurious library link:</para>

<screen><userinput>rm /lib/libproc.so</userinput></screen>

</sect2>


<sect2 id="contents-procps"><title>Contents of Procps</title>

<para><emphasis>Installed programs</emphasis>: free, kill, pgrep, pkill,
pmap, ps, skill, snice, sysctl, tload, top, uptime, vmstat, w and watch</para>

<para><emphasis>Installed library</emphasis>: libproc.so</para>

</sect2>


<sect2><title>Short descriptions</title>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps free"><primary sortas="b-free">free</primary></indexterm>
<para id="free"><command>free</command> reports the amount of free and used memory
in the system, both physical and swap memory.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps kill"><primary sortas="b-kill">kill</primary></indexterm>
<para id="kill"><command>kill</command> is used to send signals to processes.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps pgrep"><primary sortas="b-pgrep">pgrep</primary></indexterm>
<para id="pgrep"><command>pgrep</command> looks up processes based on their name
and other attributes.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps pkill"><primary sortas="b-pkill">pkill</primary></indexterm>
<para id="pkill"><command>pkill</command> signals processes based on their name
and other attributes.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps pmap"><primary sortas="b-pmap">pmap</primary></indexterm>
<para id="pmap"><command>pmap</command> reports the memory map of the given
process.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps ps"><primary sortas="b-ps">ps</primary></indexterm>
<para id="ps"><command>ps</command> gives a snapshot of the current processes.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps skill"><primary sortas="b-skill">skill</primary></indexterm>
<para id="skill"><command>skill</command> sends signals to processes matching the
given criteria.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps snice"><primary sortas="b-snice">snice</primary></indexterm>
<para id="snice"><command>snice</command> changes the scheduling priority of processes
matching the given criteria.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps sysctl"><primary sortas="b-sysctl">sysctl</primary></indexterm>
<para id="sysctl"><command>sysctl</command> modifies kernel parameters at run time.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps tload"><primary sortas="b-tload">tload</primary></indexterm>
<para id="tload"><command>tload</command> prints a graph of the current system load
average.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps top"><primary sortas="b-top">top</primary></indexterm>
<para id="top"><command>top</command> displays the top CPU processes. It provides
an ongoing look at processor activity in real time.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps uptime"><primary sortas="b-uptime">uptime</primary></indexterm>
<para id="uptime"><command>uptime</command> reports how long the system has been
running, how many users are logged on, and the system load averages.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps vmstat"><primary sortas="b-vmstat">vmstat</primary></indexterm>
<para id="vmstat"><command>vmstat</command> reports virtual memory statistics, giving
information about processes, memory, paging, block IO, traps, and CPU
activity.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps w"><primary sortas="b-w">w</primary></indexterm>
<para id="w"><command>w</command> shows which users are currently logged on,
where and since when.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps watch"><primary sortas="b-watch">watch</primary></indexterm>
<para id="watch"><command>watch</command> runs a given command repeatedly,
displaying the first screen-full of its output. This allows you to watch the
output change over time.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-procps libproc"><primary sortas="c-libproc">libproc</primary></indexterm>
<para id="libproc"><command>libproc</command> contains the functions used by most
programs in this package.</para>

</sect2>



</sect1>