ps does not show all the processes ?

[Gael Mulat]

Hi,

I've noticed that ps -aux does not show all the processes that we
can see with Task Manager. I can imagine that we cannot see some
completely native processes, but it is also the case for some processes
launched via cygwin !

Is there a reason for that behaviour ? Is there a workaround ?


I'm on W2k, Cygwin 1.3.17.

Here are some precisions about my situation:
A few days ago, I posted about the /bin/rm -rf problem with locked
files that makes the rm take 100% of the CPU. As far as I can see,
things are happening like:
- a first process works in a directory
- I loose the contact with that process (mostly because something was
wrong), but it is still alive
- a second process (second execution of my tool) tries to remove the
directory with /bin/rm -rf and goes into an infinite loop, taking 100%
of CPU
- I can't even kill the first process as I cannot see it with ps !
Note: I use to connect to the machine with sshd, so I cannot launch Task
Manager...

I have replaced all my rm -rf with chmod -Rf +w and rm -r, but it
does not fix my problem as I can no more work on the same directory: it
is locked :-(

Hints are welcome...

Gael.

[Christopher Faylor]

I've noticed that ps -aux does not show all the processes that we can
see with Task Manager. I can imagine that we cannot see some
completely native processes, but it is also the case for some processes
launched via cygwin !
Is there a reason for that behaviour ? Is there a workaround ?

I suspect that 'man ps' would be very enlightening for you.

cgf

[Max Bowsher]

Post by Gael Mulat
I've noticed that ps -aux does not show all the processes that we
can see with Task Manager. I can imagine that we cannot see some
completely native processes, but it is also the case for some
processes launched via cygwin !

The intentional behaviour is that Cygwin processes show, and native Windows
ones do not. If your Cygwin processes are not all shown, that's a bug. BUT:
native processes launched from a Cygwin process are still native. They will
not be shown, and that is intentional. That is not a bug.


Max.

[Randall R Schulz]

Gael,

% ps --help
Usage: ps [-aefls] [-u UID]
-a, --all show processes of all users
-e, --everyone show processes of all users
-f, --full show process uids, ppids
-h, --help output usage information and exit
-l, --long show process uids, ppids, pgids, winpids
-s, --summary show process summary
-u, --user list processes owned by UID
-v, --version output version information and exit
-W, --windows show windows as well as cygwin processes
With no options, ps outputs the long format by default


On my system, "ps -aeW" (at the moment) shows 56 running processes.
About the biggest flaw I can see, and it's very minor, is that the
"System Idle Process" is shown in "ps" output as "*** unknown ***".

Also, I don't think of using the available options, including "--help"
(not to mention "man ps" or "info ps" or "pinfo ps") are in the
category of "work-arounds."

You might want to investigate "procps". My favorite thing about it is
its ability show the actual command line of running processes. (Cygwin
ones, anyway. And really, what else matters?)

Randall "the curmudgeon" Schulz

Post by Gael Mulat
Hi,
I've noticed that ps -aux does not show all the processes that we
can see with Task Manager. I can imagine that we cannot see some
completely native processes, but it is also the case for some
processes launched via cygwin !
Is there a reason for that behaviour ? Is there a workaround ?
I'm on W2k, Cygwin 1.3.17.
...
Gael.