Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-picayune.mit.edu!athena.mit.edu!probe
From: probe@athena.mit.edu (Richard Basch)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aix
Subject: Re: Question abt /etc/crash & proc struct
Keywords: crash kernel proc kmem
Message-ID: <1991Jun27.064823.28639@athena.mit.edu>
Date: 27 Jun 91 06:48:23 GMT
References: <1991Jun19.151832.17038@socrates.umd.edu> <8633@awdprime.UUCP>
Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lines: 17

There are lots of reasons why a person may want to access the proc structure.
We, at MIT, find that logged out users sometimes still have processes running
on "public workstations".  Part of our workstation re-initialization between
users includes running a program that hunts for such processes and kills them
on what are considered to be "public workstations".

Of course, this could be done in shell-scripting, but it is not nearly as
elegant or accurate as doing it in a C program.

The statement of not being able to access the proc structure from user mode
has to be flawed, otherwise "ps" would not work.  The catch is that you have
to use the readx() call, and in the use of bit 31 (the sign bit).  I do not
recall how we fixed the problem, as I do not have the source in front of me
at the moment...

-Richard Basch
MIT Athena Systems Development