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From: ted@welch.jhu.edu (Ted Ying)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: /tmp file duration program questions.
Message-ID: <1990Feb6.203140.29490@welch.jhu.edu>
Date: 6 Feb 90 20:31:40 GMT
References: <5474.25cddf6b@elroy.uh.edu> <5368@buengc.BU.EDU>
Reply-To: ted@welchlab.welch.jhu.edu (Ted Ying)
Organization: Welch Medical Library, Baltimore
Lines: 27

In article <5368@buengc.BU.EDU> bph@buengc.bu.edu (Blair P. Houghton) writes:
>In article <5474.25cddf6b@elroy.uh.edu> cosc6bp@elroy.uh.edu (A JETSON News User) writes:
>>
>>I am writing a program that will collect data on the number of files in
>>the /tmp directory, and their lifetimes.  I am going to do it by the 
>>following 'snapshot' method:
>>
>>  1) execute 'ls /tmp' 
>>  2) collect the output from ls either one at a time, or all at once.
>...
>>My questions are as follows:
>>  . What command would I use to execute 'ls /tmp' from C?
>
>You would use system(3); but there's a better way.
>
	Well, I would suggest using vfork(2) and execle(3) for the "ls"
	command.  It is a better alternative than using the system(3)
	command as it uses less overhead.  Especially since you intend
	to run this endlessly in the background.  You really don't want
	the overhead of a system(3) process going continuously.

	Ted Ying			ted@welch.jhu.edu

#include <std.disclaimer.h>
Velilind's Laws of Experimentation:
	1. If reproducibility may be a problem, conduct the test only once.
	2. If a straight line fit is required, obtain only two data points.