Leopard and ps output

n1mie · 11-21-2007, 08:40 AM

I have traditionally used 'ps -acux' to list processes. When I perform that command on Tiger, I get an output that looks something like this:

Code:

USER       PID %CPU %MEM      VSZ    RSS  TT  STAT STARTED      TIME COMMAND
chip      4771   1.7  2.0   135388   5244  p3  S+   10:37AM  19:06.88 xastir
chip      4616   0.7  6.2   133148  16280  ??  S    10:34AM   9:08.95 XDarwin

But I get dramatically different results on Leopard. First of all, if I perform 'ps -acux', I get an error:

Code:

ps: No user named 'x'

I quickly determined that if I put a username afterward it would not error and I would get output, but first I had to change the order to 'ps -acxu':

Code:

  UID   PID TTY           TIME CMD
    0     1 ??         0:38.93 launchd
    0    17 ??         0:03.54 kextd

But this doesn't have the same formatting or columns as the old command. Reading the man doesn't lead me to believe that it should be different. Definitely seems broken. Any help here?

baf · 11-21-2007, 02:33 PM

Check these environment variables:

Code:

The following environment variables could affect ps:
    COLUMNS             Override default display width.
    LINES               Override default display height.
    PS_PERSONALITY      Set to one of posix,old,linux,bsd,sun,digital...
    CMD_ENV             Set to one of posix,old,linux,bsd,sun,digital...
    I_WANT_A_BROKEN_PS  Force obsolete command line interpretation.
    LC_TIME             Date format.
    PS_COLORS           Not currently supported.
    PS_FORMAT           Default output format override.
    PS_SYSMAP           Default namelist (System.map) location.
    PS_SYSTEM_MAP       Default namelist (System.map) location.
    POSIXLY_CORRECT     Don't find excuses to ignore bad "features".
    UNIX95              Don't find excuses to ignore bad "features".
    _XPG                Cancel CMD_ENV=irix non-standard behavior.

In general, it is a bad idea to set these variables. The one exception
is CMD_ENV or PS_PERSONALITY, which could be set to Linux for normal
systems. Without that setting, ps follows the useless and bad parts
of the Unix98 standard.

and especially:
COMMAND_MODE which can be legacy or unix2003 see this older thread

n1mie · 11-21-2007, 02:48 PM

Code:

echo $COLUMNS

results in

Code:

echo $LINES

results in

Code:

@LINES

The rest are undefined on my system.

I found out more after I posted the original message. I upgraded my Tiger system to Leopard using the Upgrade install method. This results in the old man pages being left in tact and the new man pages being left in an unusable gzip state. There is a method that can recover this, but it is intricate (I had help). I submitted a bug report to Apple. Hopefully this will be fixed in a future update.

So 'ps' was updated, I just couldn't tell from the man page at the time.

11-21-2007, 08:40 AM	#1
n1mie Prospect Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: CT Posts: 18	Leopard and ps output I have traditionally used 'ps -acux' to list processes. When I perform that command on Tiger, I get an output that looks something like this: Code: USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TT STAT STARTED TIME COMMAND chip 4771 1.7 2.0 135388 5244 p3 S+ 10:37AM 19:06.88 xastir chip 4616 0.7 6.2 133148 16280 ?? S 10:34AM 9:08.95 XDarwin But I get dramatically different results on Leopard. First of all, if I perform 'ps -acux', I get an error: Code: ps: No user named 'x' I quickly determined that if I put a username afterward it would not error and I would get output, but first I had to change the order to 'ps -acxu': Code: UID PID TTY TIME CMD 0 1 ?? 0:38.93 launchd 0 17 ?? 0:03.54 kextd But this doesn't have the same formatting or columns as the old command. Reading the man doesn't lead me to believe that it should be different. Definitely seems broken. Any help here? __________________ -- Chip

11-21-2007, 02:48 PM	#3
n1mie Prospect Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: CT Posts: 18	Code: echo $COLUMNS results in Code: 158 Code: echo $LINES results in Code: @LINES The rest are undefined on my system. I found out more after I posted the original message. I upgraded my Tiger system to Leopard using the Upgrade install method. This results in the old man pages being left in tact and the new man pages being left in an unusable gzip state. There is a method that can recover this, but it is intricate (I had help). I submitted a bug report to Apple. Hopefully this will be fixed in a future update. So 'ps' was updated, I just couldn't tell from the man page at the time. __________________ -- Chip

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