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From: scott@nbc1.ge.com (Scott Barman)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Get process name w/o using argv[0] in C function?
Message-ID: <1990Aug4.051827.16438@nbc1.ge.com>
Date: 4 Aug 90 05:18:27 GMT
References: <9220003@hpldsla.sid.hp.com>
Reply-To: scott@nbc1.GE.COM (Scott Barman)
Organization: National Broadcasting Company, Inc., New York
Lines: 26

In article <9220003@hpldsla.sid.hp.com> manoj@hpldsla.sid.hp.com (Manoj Joshi) writes:
>Is there a way to get the name of a process anywhere inside the source?
>By name, I mean argv[0]. As an alternative, I can pass argv[0] as an
>extra parameter from main() to every function in the program, but I 
>think it is inefficient. Also, I do not think I want to use a global
>and initialize it to argv[0] in body of main(), because I do not use
>globals!

I cannot think of one rational or even irrational reason *not* to use
global variables.  Can you explain this to us?

Do yourself a favor, declare and global like:
		char	*progname;

and the first line in your program do:
		progname = argv[0];

and save yourself a lot of unnecessary problem--including the waste in
CPU time and disk access trying to read the proc table for something
that is just handed to you.  Then again, if you are running a Cray... :-)

-- 
scott barman				NBC Systems Development
scott@nbc1.ge.com			30 Rockerfeller Plaza, Room 1615W
{philabs,crdgw1}!nbc1!scott		New York, NY  10112	+1 212/664-2787
  (This does not represent any [un]official opinions of NBC or its affiliates)