.CD "ps \(en process status"
.SX "ps \fR[\fB\(enalxU\fR] [\fBkernel mm fs\fR]"
.FL "\(ena" "Print all processes with controlling terminals"
.FL "\(enl" "Give long listing"
.FL "\(enx" "Include processes without a terminal"
.FL "\(enU" "Update (optional) name database"
.EX "ps \(enaxl" "Print all processes and tasks in long format"
.EX "ps \(enU /kernel /fs /mm" "Update database with given namelists"
.PP
\fIPs\fR prints the status of active processes.  Normally only the caller's own
processes are listed in short format (the PID, TTY, TIME and CMD fields as
explained below).  The long listing contains:
.HS
.ta 0.5i 1.0i
  F	Kernel flags:
		001: free slot
		002: no memory map
		004: sending;
		010: receiving
		020: inform on pending signals
		040: pending signals
		100: being traced.
.HS
  S
	State:
		R: runnable
		W: waiting (on a message)
		S: sleeping (i.e.,suspended on MM or FS)
		Z: zombie
		T: stopped
.HS
  UID, PID, PPID, PGRP
	The user, process, parent process and process group ID's.
.HS
  ADDR, SZ
	Decimal address and size of the process in kilobytes.
.HS
  RECV
	Process/task on which a receiving process is waiting or sleeping.
.HS
  TTY	
	Controlling tty for the process.
.HS
  TIME
	Process' cumulative (user + system) execution time.
.HS
  CMD	Command line arguments of the process.
.HS
.PP
If extra arguments (the kernel, mm and fs nonstripped executables) are
given, these are used to obtain the system addresses from (instead of the
default system executables).  This applies to the \fB\(enU\fR option also.  
This option creates \fI/etc/psdatabase\fR that contains system addresses and 
terminal names, after which \fIps\fR is faster and doesn't need the system 
executables anymore.
.PP
The default system executables are \fI/usr/src/{kernel/kernel,mm/mm,fs/fs}\fR.
If the database is updated, an old psdatabase exists, and no paths are given to
ps, it uses the paths that were previously stored in the database.  
A \fIps \(enU\fR" in \fI/etc/rc\fR thus generally ensures an up-to-date 
database.
.PP
The files \fI/dev/{mem,kmem}\fR are used to read the system tables and command
line arguments from.  Terminal names in \fI/dev\fR are used to generate the 
mnemonic names in the TTY column, so \fIps\fR is independent of terminal naming
conventions.
.PP
Warning: \fIps\fR depends heavily on up-to-date system addresses and 
parameters.
It prints messages when they appear to be outdated.