Release notes for LibGTop 1.0.
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RELNOTES-1.0
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RELNOTES-1.0
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RELEASE NOTES FOR LIBGTOP 0.25 STABLE
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=====================================
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RELEASE NOTES FOR LIBGTOP 1.0 STABLE
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====================================
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OVERVIEW
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--------
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LibGTop is a library that read information about processes and the running
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systems. This information include:
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LibGTop is a library that read information about processes and the
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running systems. This information include:
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General System Information
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General System Information:
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cpu - CPU Usage
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mem - Memory Usage
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@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ shm_limits - Shared Memory Limits
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msg_limits - Message Queue Limits
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sem_limits - Semaphore Set Limits
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Network:
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netload - Network load
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ppp - PPP statistics
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Process List:
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proclist - List of processes
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@@ -41,6 +46,7 @@ proc_segment - text_rss,shlib_rss,data_rss,stack_rss,dirty_size
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Process maps:
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proc_args - Command line arguments
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proc_map - Process map (/proc/<pid>/maps under Linux)
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File system usage:
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@@ -51,95 +57,106 @@ fsusage - File system usage
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PORTABILITY:
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-----------
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LibGtop is designed to be as portable as possible. None of the functions
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and retrieved information should be specific to a specific operating
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system. So you only need to port the system dependent part of the library
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to a new system and all application programs can then use libgtop on this
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new system.
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LibGTop is designed to be as portable as possible. None of the
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functions and retrieved information should be specific to a specific
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operating system. So you only need to port the system dependent part
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of the library to a new system and all application programs can then
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use libgtop on this new system.
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CLIENT/SERVER MODEL:
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-------------------
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Some systems like DEC OSF/1 or BSD require special priviledges for the calling
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proces to fetch the required information (SUID root/SGID kmem). To solve this
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problem, I designed a client/server model which makes a call to a SUID/SGID
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server which fetches the required information whenever it is required. This
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server is only called for features that really require priviledges, otherwise
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the sysdeps code is called directory (every user can get the CPU usage on
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DEC OSF/1, but only root can get information about processes other than the
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Some systems like DEC OSF/1 or BSD require special privileges for the
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calling process to fetch the required information (SUID root/SGID
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kmem). To solve this problem, I designed a client/server model which
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makes a call to a SUID/SGID server which fetches the required
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information whenever it is required. This server is only called for
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features that really require privileges, otherwise the sysdeps code
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is called directory (every user can get the CPU usage on DEC OSF/1,
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but only root can get information about processes other than the
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current one).
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There is also some kind of daemon which can be used to fetch information from
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remote systems (still experimental). This daemon normally runs as nobody and
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calls the SUID/SGID itself when needed.
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There is also some kind of daemon which can be used to fetch
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information from remote systems (still experimental). This daemon
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normally runs as nobody and calls the SUID/SGID itself when needed.
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GNOME APPLETS:
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--------------
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LIBGTOP AND GNOME:
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-----------------
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There are some applets and applications which already use LibGTop. They can
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be found in the `libgtop-apps' module in the GNOME CVS tree:
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LibGTop is currently used in various places in the GNOME Project,
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for instance in some of the applets in gnome-core and - of cause -
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this ultra-cool application called GTop ...
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* Applets: cpuload, cpumemusage - they need LibGTop to get their information
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on all systems other than Linux.
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Although LibGTop is not specific to GNOME and under LGPL license, I
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spent most my time during the last months to work in the GNOME project
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so this is the primary use for LibGTop (and currently the only one).
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* Applets: diskusage - just uses the mountlist/fsusage features of LibGTop,
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the one in gnome-core also works on other systems.
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However, you can also give its configure.in script the `--without-gnome'
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parameter and then use it fully without GNOME in your own applications.
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* Applets: multiload - I enhanced the cpuload applet a little bit, it is
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now a multi applet and can display CPU, Memory and
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Swap usages.
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LIBGTOP AND GNOME - PART II:
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---------------------------
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GTOP:
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----
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LibGTop was tested with FreeBSD 3.0 but it should also work with
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FreeBSD 2.2.7, NetBSD and OpenBSD.
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This cool GNOME app has been ported to use LibGTop. It can be found in
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`libgtop-apps/gtop' in the GNOME CVS tree.
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Currently my primary aim is to help the GNOME people with our 1.0 release
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so I won't have much time to test it with any other system than Linux.
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You can now use nearly the full functionality of GTop on FreeBSD !
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However, I consider FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD as supported systems for
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LibGTop and whenever I get bug reports I will do my best to fix them as
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quickly as possible.
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PLATTFORM SPECIFIC NOTES FOR LINUX:
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PLATFORM SPECIFIC NOTES FOR LINUX:
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==================================
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Under Linux, LibGTop should work without problems and read everything
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from /proc.
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There is also an experimental kernel interface to read this information
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directly from the kernel with a system call - but this is still experimental
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and not well tested while I made this release.
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LibGTop 0.25 also had an experimental kernel interface to read this
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information directly from the kernel with a system call - but I have
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currently dropped support for this as I am too busy with GNOME
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development to keep current with kernel hacking.
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PLATTFORM SPECIFIC NOTES FOR FREEBSD:
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PLATFORM SPECIFIC NOTES FOR SOLARIS:
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====================================
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LibGTop should now work under FreeBSD and give you the full functionality
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of GTop.
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Since so many people were asking me about this:
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LibGTop currently does not have any support for Solaris, and it will
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never have until some volunteer writes the code for it. I can't do this
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myself since I do not have any machine to test it on.
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PLATFORM SPECIFIC NOTES FOR BSD:
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=================================
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There are a few caveats:
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* You need to manually make the `$(prefix)/bin/libgtop_server' SGID to kmem
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after installation and mount the /proc filesystem of FreeBSD
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(/proc/<pid>/mem is used withing kvm_uread ()).
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* You need to manually make the `$(prefix)/bin/libgtop_server' SGID to
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kmem after installation and mount the /proc file system of FreeBSD
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(/proc/<pid>/mem is used within kvm_uread ()).
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* To get the filenames of the process maps displayed in GTop, you need to
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configure with the `--with-libgtop-inodedb' option (you need GDBM for this
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to work).
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* To get the filenames of the process maps displayed in GTop, you need
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to configure with the `--with-libgtop-inodedb' option (you need GDBM
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for this to work).
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* You have then to create an inode database which is used to look up to
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filenames. This is done using the `mkinodedb' program which comes along
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with libgtop.
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You have then to create an inode database which is used to look up
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filenames. This is done using the `mkinodedb' program which comes
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along with libgtop.
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See the file src/inodedb/README for details:
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The `mkinodedb' program which is build in this directory takes two
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command line arguments: the full pathname of the database to be created
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and the name of a configuration file consisting of directory and file names
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each on a line by itself - see `/etc/ld.so.conf' for an example.
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command line arguments: the full pathname of the database to be
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created and the name of a configuration file consisting of directory
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and file names each on a line by itself - see `/etc/ld.so.conf' for
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an example.
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Putting a directory name in this file means all regular files found in this
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directory are included in the database, but it will not recursively descend
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into subdirectories (for instance, we want everythink in `/usr/lib' but not
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every single file in `/usr/lib/sgml'). You can also use filenames to include
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a single file.
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Putting a directory name in this file means all regular files found
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in this directory are included in the database, but it will not
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recursively descend into subdirectories (for instance, we want
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everything in `/usr/lib' but not every single file in `/usr/lib/sgml').
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You can also use filenames to include a single file.
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Have fun,
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