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From: dbfunk@icaen.uiowa.edu (David B Funk)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: more ignorant questions ...
Message-ID: <8912151018.AA00864@icaen.uiowa.edu>
Date: 15 Dec 89 10:03:20 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: Iowa Computer Aided Engineering Network, University of Iowa
Lines: 38

WRT posting <8912131818.AA18099@richter.mit.edu>:
> I've noticed that a number of Apollo supplied programs
> manage to their process names (the ones shown by /com/pst)
> no matter what name you use when you start the program.
> Anyone have any idea how this is accomplished?

By this I assume that you're refering to something like:
1) You start a process with the DM "cps" or a "crp -cps"
   command such as: "Command: cps /sys/ncs/llbd -n my_name" (sr9.7)
2) You then do a "/com/pst" and see:

...
  34246.796   3/14/14   3B416592    Wait   tcp_server
     42.164   3/14/14   3B416072    Wait   netman
     32.812   3/13/14   3B416592    Wait   process_333
   1307.390   3/14/14   3B416592    Wait   ns_helper
     10.636   3/14/14   3B416592    Wait   llbd
      0.123   3/14/14   3B416592    Wait   message
...

  And you notice that "my_name" is gone and that "llbd" is
  now there.

Here's what is happening; The name that you gave to the process
during the process creation was OK, but the program was written
so that it did some stuff and then did a Unix "fork" to create
a new copy of itself. The parent process (the one that you started
and named) then exited and the new child process was un-named so
it was free to set its own name with the "set my name" system call.
    A program usually does the "fork" trick when it wants to do
things like change the standard streams around or detach itself
from the controlling "tty" or if it's a "set-uid" program.
    BTW don't try to go changing the names that you find in
`node_data/proc_dir. This can cause problems/confusion and under
sr10, you can see named processes with pst and find no entry
for them in `node_data/proc_dir.

Dave Funk