Linux From Scratch: Version 5.1-pre1
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# Installing Psmisc-21.4

The Psmisc package contains programs for displaying information on processes.

    Approximate build time:  0.1 SBU
    Required disk space:     2.2 MB

Official download location for Psmisc (21.4):
http://download.sourceforge.net/psmisc/

For its installation Psmisc depends on: Bash, Binutils, Coreutils, Diffutils, GCC, Gettext, Glibc, Grep, Make, Ncurses, Sed.

##

## Installation of Psmisc

Prepare Psmisc for compilation:

    ./configure --prefix=/usr --exec-prefix=/

The meaning of the configure option:

- `--exec-prefix=/`: This causes the binaries to be installed in `/bin` and not in `/usr/bin`. As the Psmisc programs are often used in bootscripts, they should be available also when the `/usr` file system isn't mounted.

Compile the package:

    make

And install it:

    make install

There is no reason for the `pstree` and `pstree.x11` programs to reside in `/bin`. We therefore move them to `/usr/bin`. Also, there is no need for `pstree.x11` to exist as a separate program. We therefore make it a symbolic link to `pstree`:

    mv /bin/pstree* /usr/bin
    ln -sf pstree /usr/bin/pstree.x11

By default Psmisc's pidof program isn't installed. Generally, this isn't a problem because we later install the Sysvinit package, which provides a better pidof program. But if you're not going to use Sysvinit, you should complete the installation of Psmisc by creating the following symlink:

    ln -s killall /bin/pidof

##

## Contents of Psmisc

Installed programs: fuser, killall, pstree and pstree.x11 (link to pstree)

## Short descriptions

fuser reports the PIDs of processes that use the given files or file systems.

killall kills processes by name. It sends a signal to all processes running any of the given commands.

pstree displays running processes as a tree.

pstree.x11 same as pstree except that it waits for confirmation before exiting.

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