From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Feb 17 13:43:43 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 09798106564A for ; Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:43:43 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mexas@bristol.ac.uk) Received: from dirg.bris.ac.uk (dirg.bris.ac.uk [137.222.10.102]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BB33E8FC3A for ; Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:43:42 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mexas@bristol.ac.uk) Received: from isis.bris.ac.uk ([137.222.10.63]) by dirg.bris.ac.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1LZQEd-0001DT-76 for questions@freebsd.org; Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:43:41 +0000 Received: from mech-cluster238.men.bris.ac.uk ([137.222.187.238]) by isis.bris.ac.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.67) (envelope-from ) id 1LZQEZ-0004Nl-PS for questions@freebsd.org; Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:43:36 +0000 Received: from mech-cluster238.men.bris.ac.uk (localhost.men.bris.ac.uk [127.0.0.1]) by mech-cluster238.men.bris.ac.uk (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id n1HDhXbI053819 for ; Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:43:33 GMT (envelope-from mexas@bristol.ac.uk) Received: (from mexas@localhost) by mech-cluster238.men.bris.ac.uk (8.14.3/8.14.3/Submit) id n1HDhURV053818 for questions@freebsd.org; Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:43:30 GMT (envelope-from mexas@bristol.ac.uk) X-Authentication-Warning: mech-cluster238.men.bris.ac.uk: mexas set sender to mexas@bristol.ac.uk using -f Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:43:30 +0000 From: Anton Shterenlikht To: questions@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20090217134330.GA53766@mech-cluster238.men.bris.ac.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.19 (2009-01-05) X-Spam-Score: -1.4 X-Spam-Level: - Cc: Subject: w(5) shows non-existent or lost process? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:43:43 -0000 The who (or w, or finger) command shows that I'm still logged into ttyp5, even though I have rebooted the box many times since. Does this mean the corresponding entry in /var/run/utmp is wrong and shouldn't be there, or is there still some process attached to ttyp5? ouput of w: USER TTY FROM LOGIN@ IDLE WHAT mexas p4 1:32pm - w mexas p5 :0. 26Jan09 21days - ps ax | grep ttyp5 shows no process Looking at w(1) man page it seems that "-" in WHAT can be an indication that the process failed but not cleanly and that there could be some forked sub-process still alive. Does this make sense? Which other commands I can use to see what's going on? many thanks anton -- Anton Shterenlikht Room 2.6, Queen's Building Mech Eng Dept Bristol University University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TR, UK Tel: +44 (0)117 928 8233 Fax: +44 (0)117 929 4423