Installing Procps-3.1.15

The Procps package contains programs for monitoring processes.

Approximate build time:  0.1 SBU
Required disk space:     6.2 MB

Official download location for Procps (3.1.15):
http://procps.sourceforge.net/

For its installation Procps depends on: Bash, Binutils, Coreutils, GCC, Glibc, Make, Ncurses.

Installation of Procps

Compile Procps:

make

Install it:

make install

And remove a spurious library link:

rm /lib/libproc.so

Contents of Procps

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

Installed library: libproc.so

Short descriptions

free reports the amount of free and used memory in the system, both physical and swap memory.

kill is used to send signals to processes.

pgrep looks up processes based on their name and other attributes.

pkill signals processes based on their name and other attributes.

pmap reports the memory map of the given process.

ps gives a snapshot of the current processes.

skill sends signals to processes matching the given criteria.

snice changes the scheduling priority of processes matching the given criteria.

sysctl modifies kernel parameters at run time.

tload prints a graph of the current system load average.

top displays the top CPU processes. It provides an ongoing look at processor activity in real time.

uptime reports how long the system has been running, how many users are logged on, and the system load averages.

vmstat reports virtual memory statistics, giving information about processes, memory, paging, block IO, traps, and CPU activity.

w shows which users are currently logged on, where and since when.

watch runs a given command repeatedly, displaying the first screenful of its output. This allows you to watch the output change over time.

libproc contains the functions used by most programs in this package.