Linux From Scratch: Version 5.0-pre1
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# Procps

For installation instructions see the Section called Installing Procps-3.1.11 in Chapter 6.

## Official Download Location

Procps (3.1.11):
http://procps.sourceforge.net/
Procps Patch (3.1.11):
http://downloads.linuxfromscratch.org

## Contents of Procps

(Last checked against version 2.0.7.)

The Procps package provides programs to monitor and halt system processes. Procps gathers information about processes via the `/proc` directory.

Procps installs the following:

### Program Files

free, kill, oldps, pgrep, pkill, ps, skill, snice, sysctl, tload, top, vmstat, w and watch

### Library Files

libproc.so

##

## Descriptions

(Last checked against version 2.0.7.)

### Program file descriptions

#### free

free displays the total amount of free and used physical and swap memory in the system, as well as the shared memory and buffers used by the kernel.

#### kill

kills sends signals to processes.

#### oldps and ps

ps gives a snapshot of the current processes.

#### pgrep

pgrep looks up processes based on name and other attributes.

#### pkill

pkill signals processes based on name and other attributes.

#### skill

skill sends signals to process matching a criteria.

#### snice

snice changes the scheduling priority for process matching a criteria.

#### sysctl

sysctl modifies kernel parameters at runtime.

#### tload

tload prints a graph of the current system load average to the specified tty or, if none is specified, the tty of the tload process.

#### top

top provides an ongoing look at processor activity in real time.

#### vmstat

vmstat reports information about processes, memory, paging, block IO, traps and cpu activity.

#### w

w displays information about the users, and their processes, currently on the machine.

#### watch

watch runs command repeatedly, displaying its output (the first screen full).

### Library file descriptions

#### libproc

libproc is the library against which most of the programs in this set are linked to save disk space by implementing common functions only once.

##

## Procps Installation Dependencies

(Last checked against version 2.0.7.)

Bash: sh
Binutils: as, ld, strip
Coreutils: basename, install, ln, mv, pwd, rm, sort, tr
Gawk: awk
GCC: cc1, collect2, cpp0, gcc
Grep: grep
Make: make
Sed: sed

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