Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!virtech!cpcahil
From: cpcahil@virtech.uucp (Conor P. Cahill)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: /etc/ps_data
Message-ID: <1990Jul04.021242.3836@virtech.uucp>
Date: 4 Jul 90 02:12:42 GMT
References: <23795@adm.BRL.MIL>
Reply-To: cpcahil@virtech.UUCP (Conor P. Cahill)
Organization: Virtual Technologies Inc., Sterling VA
Lines: 29

In article <23795@adm.BRL.MIL> BKEHOE%WIDENER.BITNET@cornellc.cit.cornell.edu writes:
> Whenever they reboot the 3b2/400 here, any attempt to do /etc/whodo or ps
>results in '/etc/ps_data: file does not exist' (which, after rtfm'ing, I
>found out was the internal data structure file used by ps, whodo, et al);
>my question is, what is it about rebooting that wipes this file out? To fix
>this can ya simply touch the file so that something exists again? How is it
>recreated?

As a minimum, the ps command will re-create the /etc/ps_data file IFF the
/etc directory and the /bin/ps command are set up with the correct 
permissions.  I'm not sure if whodo will actually re-build the file, or 
just relies on ps to do it.

Anyway, 

	/bin/ps and /etc should look as follows:

-r-xr-sr-x   1 root     sys        21900 Mar 28 14:19 /bin/ps
drwxrwxr-x  20 root     sys         4256 Jul  3 15:01 /etc


Note that /etc is group writable, /bin/ps is setgid and the two
of them are in the same group.


-- 
Conor P. Cahill            (703)430-9247        Virtual Technologies, Inc.,
uunet!virtech!cpcahil                           46030 Manekin Plaza, Suite 160
                                                Sterling, VA 22170