NAME

    P9Y::ProcessTable - Portably access the process table

SYNOPSIS

        use P9Y::ProcessTable;
     
        my @process_table = P9Y::ProcessTable->table;
        print $process_table[0]->pid."\n";
     
        my @pids = P9Y::ProcessTable->list;
     
        my $perl_process  = P9Y::ProcessTable->process;
        my $other_process = P9Y::ProcessTable->process($pids[0]);
     
        if ($other_process->has_threads) {
           print "# of Threads: ".$other_process->threads."\n";
           sleep 2;
           $other_process->refresh;
           print "# of Threads: ".$other_process->threads."\n";
        }
     
        # A cheap and sleazy version of ps
        my $FORMAT = "%-6s %-10s %-8s %-24s %s\n";
        printf($FORMAT, "PID", "TTY", "STAT", "START", "COMMAND");
        foreach my $p ( P9Y::ProcessTable->table ) {
           printf($FORMAT,
              $p->pid,
              $p->ttydev,
              $p->state,
              scalar(localtime($p->start)),
              $p->cmdline,
           );
        }
     
        # Dump all the information in the current process table
        foreach my $p ( P9Y::ProcessTable->table ) {
           print "--------------------------------\n";
           foreach my $f (P9Y::ProcessTable->fields) {
              my $has_f = 'has_'.$f;
              print $f, ":  ", $p->$f(), "\n" if ( $p->$has_f() );
           }
        }

DESCRIPTION

    This interface will portably access the process table, no matter what
    the OS, and normalize its outputs to work similar across all platforms.

METHODS

    All methods to this module are actually class-based (objectless) calls.
    However, the P9Y::ProcessTable::Process returns are actual objects.

 fields

    Returns a list of the field names supported by the module on the
    current architecture.

 list

    Returns a list of PIDs that are available in the process table. On most
    systems, this is a less heavy call than table, as it doesn't have to
    look up the information for every single process.

 table

    Returns a list of P9Y::ProcessTable::Process objects for all of the
    processes in the process table. (More information in that module POD.)

 process

    Returns a P9Y::ProcessTable::Process object for the process specified.
    If a process isn't specified, it will look up $$ (or its platform
    equivalent).

P9Y?

    Portability. You know, like I18N and L10N.

SUPPORTED PLATFORMS

    Currently, this module supports:

      * All /proc friendly OSs to some degree. Linux, Solaris, and most
      /proc friendly BSD-variants are fully supported so far.

      * Windows (most flavors)

      * Darwin (see CAVEATS)

      * FreeBSD (only; see CAVEATS)

      * OS/2 (hey, the module was there...)

      * VMS (same here; probably needs some testing)

HISTORY

    This module spawned because Proc::ProcessTable has fallen into bugland
    <http://matrix.cpantesters.org/?dist=Proc-ProcessTable-0.45> for the
    last 4 years, and many people just want to be able to get a simple
    PID+cmdline from the process table. While this module offers more than
    that as a bonus, the goal of this module is to have something that JFW,
    and continues to JFW.

    With that in mind, here my list of what went wrong with
    Proc::ProcessTable. I have nothing against the authors of that module,
    but I feel like we should try to learn from our failures and adapt in
    kind.

      * Too many OSs in one distribution. I dunno about you, but I don't
      happen to have 15 different OSs on VMs anywhere. At best, I might
      have access to 2-3 different platforms. So, trying to test out code
      on a platform that you don't actually own is especially difficult.

      Thus, this module is merely a wrapper around various other modules
      that provide process table information. Those guys actually have the
      means (and the drive) to test their stuff on those OSs. (The sole
      exception is the ProcFS module, but that may get split eventually.)

      * Too much C/XS code. The C and XS code falls in a class of
      exclusivity that makes it even harder to maintain. If I were to
      conjure up some wild guess, I would say that only 20% of Perl
      programmers could actually read, understand, and program C/XS code.
      People aren't calling the process table a 1000 times a second, so
      there's really no need for a speed boost, either.

      Alas, sometimes this is unavoidable, with the process information
      buried in C library calls. However, the /proc FS is available on a
      great many amount of UNIX platforms, so it should be used as much as
      possible. Also, I take this moment to shake my tiny little fist at
      the BSD folks for actually regressing the OS by removing support for
      /proc. All of the reasons behind it are unsound or have solutions
      that don't involve removing this most basic right of UNIX users.

CAVEATS / TODO

      * No support for any non-proc BSD system other than FreeBSD. This is
      because BSD::Process only supports FreeBSD. If the support is needed,
      bug that module maintainer and provide some patches. Then bug me and
      I'll change the OS detection logic.

      * This thing actually uses Proc::ProcessTable for any system that
      isn't in the list and doesn't have /proc, including Darwin/OSX
      systems. Fortunately, P:PT is passing all Darwin tests (so far), so
      until somebody splits the code from that to a new module (hint
      hint)... And fortunately, P:PT gained a non-broken release.

      * Certain other /proc friendly OSs needs further support. Frankly,
      I'm trying to get a feel for what people actually need than just
      spending the time coding something for, say, NeXT OS and 50 other
      flavors. However, supporting one OS or another should be pretty easy.
      If you need support, dive into the ProcFS code and submit a patch.

      * See P9Y::ProcessTable::Process for other caveats.

SEE ALSO

      * Proc::ProcessTable

      * BSD::Process

      * Win32::Process::Info & Win32::Process

      * OS2::Process

      * VMS::Process

AVAILABILITY

    The project homepage is https://github.com/SineSwiper/P9Y-ProcessTable.

    The latest version of this module is available from the Comprehensive
    Perl Archive Network (CPAN). Visit http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ to find a
    CPAN site near you, or see
    https://metacpan.org/module/P9Y::ProcessTable/.

SUPPORT

 Internet Relay Chat

    You can get live help by using IRC ( Internet Relay Chat ). If you
    don't know what IRC is, please read this excellent guide:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat. Please be courteous
    and patient when talking to us, as we might be busy or sleeping! You
    can join those networks/channels and get help:

      * irc.perl.org

      You can connect to the server at 'irc.perl.org' and talk to this
      person for help: SineSwiper.

 Bugs / Feature Requests

    Please report any bugs or feature requests via
    https://github.com/SineSwiper/P9Y-ProcessTable/issues.

AUTHOR

    Brendan Byrd <BBYRD@CPAN.org>

CONTRIBUTORS

      * Chris 'BinGOs' Williams <chris@bingosnet.co.uk>

      * Mithun Ayachit <m0t0rbr3th@gmail.com>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

    This software is Copyright (c) 2013 by Brendan Byrd.

    This is free software, licensed under:

      The Artistic License 2.0 (GPL Compatible)