TweetFollow Us on Twitter

Process Control

Volume Number: 18 (2002)
Issue Number: 10
Column Tag: Section 7

Process Control

ps, top, kill, ...

by Rich Morin

A recent foray into Internet Radio conflicted in some manner with the OSX screen saver on my desktop machine. As a result, I was unable to get the screen saver to go away. I tried all of the usual tricks: hitting mouse buttons, moving the mouse, advancing to keyboard keys (e.g., shift, return) and finally "magic key combinations" (e.g., command-option-escape). No luck.

On Mac OS 9, my next steps would have been to try a "three-finger salute" (i.e., command-control-power), followed by pushing the reset button and if need be, pulling the plug. This being a BSD-based machine, however, I had a better solution at hand.

I went to another machine on the local net, logged into my desktop machine, and killed a couple of sorely-confused processes. I then logged out and returned to my desk, flushed with victory and the knowledge that I had a useful Section 7 topic in hand.

Advance Preparation

My "remote login" trick wouldn't have worked without a bit of advance preparation. OSX, for very good reasons, turns off most "remote services", by default. I don't recommend turning services on, willy-nilly, but ftp and ssh are so handy that I wouldn't want to live without them. And, because my desktop machine is hidden behind a firewall, I consider the risk to be pretty minimal (your mileage may vary).

In any case, here's how to allow remote ftp and ssh on an OSX 10.2 machine: In the System Preferences application, select the Sharing dialog. Under the "Services" tab, turn on the checkboxes labelled "FTP Access" and "Rmote Login".

You will also need a way to "find" your machine from the other one. This can be achieved in any number of ways, including DNS (Domain Name System), /etc/hosts files, etc. Your network administrator will (or should :-) know how to make this happen on your local network. As a last resort, you can use your machine's IP (Internet Protocol) address as a name.

Logging In

Because ftp and ssh aren't OSX-specific tools, you can log in remotely from almost any operating system. This being an OSX-related column, however, I'll assume that you're running OSX. If you're not, you'll have to deal with the vagaries of installing and starting up the needed clients on the machine you're on. On OSX, just start up a Terminal window and type:

% ssh <me>@<mydesk>
<me>@<mydesk>s password:

The first time you do this from a given machine, you'll be asked whether you trust the SSH keys on your desktop machine. Say yes (:-). After entering your password, you'll get a prompt from your desktop machine:

<me>@<mydesk> [~] 1: 

There are all sorts of things you can do at this point, but try not to get too excited and do something you'll regret. Think "delicate surgery", rather than "hack and slash". Thus, the first thing we want to do is find out a bit about the programs that are running over on the desktop machine. To do this, we'll use the top command, which displays system usage statistics and then lists the top processes, in terms of CPU utilization:

<me>@<mydesk> [~] 2: top
Processes:  65 total, 3 running, 62 sleeping... 190 threads   17:39:16
Load Avg:   2.15, 1.46, 1.35
CPU usage:  62.3% user, 37.7% sys, 0.0% idle
SharedLibs: num =  116, resident = 23.2M code, ...
MemRegions: num = 4936, resident =  159M + 13.0M private, ...
VM:         4.22G + 45.8M  5363(0) pageins, 0(0) pageouts   
   PID COMMAND            %CPU      TIME         ...
   758 top                7.9%      0:38.79   ...
   703 tcsh               0.0%      0:00.34   ...
   702 sshd               0.0%      0:00.78   ...
   701 ssh                0.0%      0:00.86   ...
   692 CCacheServ         0.0%      0:06.09   ...
   610 Finder             0.0%      0:18.75   ... 
   ...

Unlike most BSD commands, top doesn't just run and go away. Instead, it refreshes its display about once a second, letting you see if things are changing. When you're done viewing the display, type "q" (or Conrtol-C) and the program will terminate. Alternatively, just start up another Terminal window, leaving top running in the first one...

The system usage statistics are a bit arcane; look at top's man page if you want the details. For now, just note that the number of processes should normally be under 100 and that the load average (time-averaged system load) should be under five. If you see higher values on your machine, you may have a runaway application.

Because top's process list is sorted by CPU utilization, active programs tend to "bubble up". So, look near the top of the list for suspects. In some cases, killing off a sijngle process won't be enough; to restore my desktop to proper functionality, I had to kill the screen saver, the Internet Radio application, and the Finder!

I issued a separate kill com mand for each process I wanted to terminate, specifying the PID (process ID). This let me see and evaluate the effect of each action:

^C<me>@<mydesk> [~] 3: kill -9 610

Be sure to get the PID right; you don't want to kill off an innocent application, by mistake! By the way, kill can do more than just terminate processes. It can send any desired "signal" to one or more specified processes. So, for example, it can be used to tell processes to check their configuration files, etc.

If you can't figure out which command you need to kill, you may need to get a different view of the information. The ps command lists "process status" information, in a variety of formats. For our present purposes, "ps awx" is a reasonable idiom:

<me>@<mydesk> [~] 4: ps awx
  PID  TT  STAT      TIME COMMAND
    1  ??  SLs    0:00.03 /sbin/init     
    2  ??  SL     0:02.35 /sbin/mach_init        
   41  ??  Ss     0:02.24 kextd
  ...

To list the commands in a different order, just pipe together some commands:

<me>@<mydesk> [~] 5: ps awx | sort +3 -rn | more
   62  ??  Ss    56:09.79 .../WindowServer
  ...
  PID  TT  STAT      TIME COMMAND
  994 std  R+     0:00.00 more
  993 std  R+     0:00.01 sort +3 -rn
  ...
  610  ??  S      0:18.80 .../MacOS/Finder -psn_0_3538945
  ...

Transliterated, the pipeline above says to run the output of ps through a line-oriented sort (sorting by the fourth column, in reverse numeric order), then pipe the result through more (a text viewing command). If you know what command you're looking for, of course, you can use grep:

<me>@<mydesk> [~] 6: ps awx | grep Finder
 1006 std  R+     0:00.00 grep Finder
  610  ??  S      0:18.80 .../Finder -psn_0_3538945

With the advent of OSX 10.2, I feel more comfortable in recommending FreeBSD-related books to OSX users and programmers. There are still some differences, to be sure, but any book that covers FreeBSD 4.X commands will be a good match for the OSX 10.2 command set.

Although processes are the workhorses of any BSD system, there are few books that spend much time on them. Quite a few man pages relate to processes, however, and the DOSSIER (www.ptf.com/dossier) volume "Processes: FreeBSD" brings them together in a single volume.


Rich Morin has been using computers since 1970, Unix since 1983, and Mac-based Unix since 1986 (when he helped Apple create A/UX 1.0). When he isn't writing this column, Rich runs Prime Time Freeware (www.ptf.com), a publisher of books and CD-ROMs for the Free and Open Source software community. Feel free to write to Rich at rdm@ptf.com.

 

Community Search:
MacTech Search:

Software Updates via MacUpdate

Latest Forum Discussions

See All

Whitethorn Games combines two completely...
If you have ever gone fishing then you know that it is a lesson in patience, sitting around waiting for a bite that may never come. Well, that's because you have been doing it wrong, since as Whitehorn Games now demonstrates in new release Skate... | Read more »
Call of Duty Warzone is a Waiting Simula...
It's always fun when a splashy multiplayer game comes to mobile because they are few and far between, so I was excited to see the notification about Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile (finally) launching last week and wanted to try it out. As someone who... | Read more »
Albion Online introduces some massive ne...
Sandbox Interactive has announced an upcoming update to its flagship MMORPG Albion Online, containing massive updates to its existing guild Vs guild systems. Someone clearly rewatched the Helms Deep battle in Lord of the Rings and spent the next... | Read more »
Chucklefish announces launch date of the...
Chucklefish, the indie London-based team we probably all know from developing Terraria or their stint publishing Stardew Valley, has revealed the mobile release date for roguelike deck-builder Wildfrost. Developed by Gaziter and Deadpan Games, the... | Read more »
Netmarble opens pre-registration for act...
It has been close to three years since Netmarble announced they would be adapting the smash series Solo Leveling into a video game, and at last, they have announced the opening of pre-orders for Solo Leveling: Arise. [Read more] | Read more »
PUBG Mobile celebrates sixth anniversary...
For the past six years, PUBG Mobile has been one of the most popular shooters you can play in the palm of your hand, and Krafton is celebrating this milestone and many years of ups by teaming up with hit music man JVKE to create a special song for... | Read more »
ASTRA: Knights of Veda refuse to pump th...
In perhaps the most recent example of being incredibly eager, ASTRA: Knights of Veda has dropped its second collaboration with South Korean boyband Seventeen, named so as it consists of exactly thirteen members and a video collaboration with Lee... | Read more »
Collect all your cats and caterpillars a...
If you are growing tired of trying to build a town with your phone by using it as a tiny, ineffectual shover then fear no longer, as Independent Arts Software has announced the upcoming release of Construction Simulator 4, from the critically... | Read more »
Backbone complete its lineup of 2nd Gene...
With all the ports of big AAA games that have been coming to mobile, it is becoming more convenient than ever to own a good controller, and to help with this Backbone has announced the completion of their 2nd generation product lineup with their... | Read more »
Zenless Zone Zero opens entries for its...
miHoYo, aka HoYoverse, has become such a big name in mobile gaming that it's hard to believe that arguably their flagship title, Genshin Impact, is only three and a half years old. Now, they continue the road to the next title in their world, with... | Read more »

Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

Deal Alert! B&H Photo has Apple’s 14-inch...
B&H Photo has new Gray and Black 14″ M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max MacBook Pros on sale for $200-$300 off MSRP, starting at only $1399. B&H offers free 1-2 day delivery to most US addresses: – 14″ 8... Read more
Department Of Justice Sets Sights On Apple In...
NEWS – The ball has finally dropped on the big Apple. The ball (metaphorically speaking) — an antitrust lawsuit filed in the U.S. on March 21 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) — came down following... Read more
New 13-inch M3 MacBook Air on sale for $999,...
Amazon has Apple’s new 13″ M3 MacBook Air on sale for $100 off MSRP for the first time, now just $999 shipped. Shipping is free: – 13″ MacBook Air (8GB RAM/256GB SSD/Space Gray): $999 $100 off MSRP... Read more
Amazon has Apple’s 9th-generation WiFi iPads...
Amazon has Apple’s 9th generation 10.2″ WiFi iPads on sale for $80-$100 off MSRP, starting only $249. Their prices are the lowest available for new iPads anywhere: – 10″ 64GB WiFi iPad (Space Gray or... Read more
Discounted 14-inch M3 MacBook Pros with 16GB...
Apple retailer Expercom has 14″ MacBook Pros with M3 CPUs and 16GB of standard memory discounted by up to $120 off Apple’s MSRP: – 14″ M3 MacBook Pro (16GB RAM/256GB SSD): $1691.06 $108 off MSRP – 14... Read more
Clearance 15-inch M2 MacBook Airs on sale for...
B&H Photo has Apple’s 15″ MacBook Airs with M2 CPUs (8GB RAM/256GB SSD) in stock today and on clearance sale for $999 in all four colors. Free 1-2 delivery is available to most US addresses.... Read more
Clearance 13-inch M1 MacBook Airs drop to onl...
B&H has Apple’s base 13″ M1 MacBook Air (Space Gray, Silver, & Gold) in stock and on clearance sale today for $300 off MSRP, only $699. Free 1-2 day shipping is available to most addresses in... Read more
New promo at Visible: Buy a new iPhone, get $...
Switch to Visible, and buy a new iPhone, and Visible will take $10 off their monthly Visible+ service for 24 months. Visible+ is normally $45 per month. With this promotion, the cost of Visible+ is... Read more
B&H has Apple’s 13-inch M2 MacBook Airs o...
B&H Photo has 13″ MacBook Airs with M2 CPUs and 256GB of storage in stock and on sale for $100 off Apple’s new MSRP, only $899. Free 1-2 day delivery is available to most US addresses. Their... Read more
Take advantage of Apple’s steep discounts on...
Apple has a full line of 16″ M3 Pro and M3 Max MacBook Pros available, Certified Refurbished, starting at $2119 and ranging up to $600 off MSRP. Each model features a new outer case, shipping is free... Read more

Jobs Board

Medical Assistant - Surgical Oncology- *Apple...
Medical Assistant - Surgical Oncology- Apple Hill Location: WellSpan Medical Group, York, PA Schedule: Full Time Sign-On Bonus Eligible Remote/Hybrid Regular Apply Read more
Omnichannel Associate - *Apple* Blossom Mal...
Omnichannel Associate - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Apple Read more
Cashier - *Apple* Blossom Mall - JCPenney (...
Cashier - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Apple Blossom Mall Read more
Operations Associate - *Apple* Blossom Mall...
Operations Associate - Apple Blossom Mall Location:Winchester, VA, United States (https://jobs.jcp.com/jobs/location/191170/winchester-va-united-states) - Apple Read more
Business Analyst | *Apple* Pay - Banco Popu...
Business Analyst | Apple PayApply now " Apply now + Apply Now + Start applying with LinkedIn Start + Please wait Date:Mar 19, 2024 Location: San Juan-Cupey, PR Read more
All contents are Copyright 1984-2011 by Xplain Corporation. All rights reserved. Theme designed by Icreon.