MOUNT_PROCFS(8) BSD System Manager's Manual MOUNT_PROCFS(8)NAMEmount_procfs — mount the process file system
SYNOPSISmount_procfs [-o options] /proc mount_point
DESCRIPTION
The mount_procfs command attaches an instance of the process namespace to
the global filesystem namespace. The conventional mount point is /proc.
The directory specified by mount_point is converted to an absolute path
before use. This command is normally executed by mount(8) at boot time.
The options are as follows:
-o nolinux
Do not support nodes which are not part of the original procfs
implementation but have been added for compatibility with the
Linux procfs namespace. See FILES for more information.
The root of the process filesystem contains an entry for each active
process. These processes are visible as a directory whose name is the
process' pid. In addition, the special entries curproc and self refer‐
ence the current process. The self symlink appears for compatibility
with the Linux procfs implementation.
Each directory contains several files.
cmdline
This file is readonly and returns null-terminated strings corre‐
sponding to the process' command line arguments. For a system or
zombie process, this file contains only a string with the name of
the process.
ctl a writeonly file which supports a variety of control operations.
Control commands are written as strings to the ctl file. The
control commands are:
attach stops the target process and arranges for the sending
process to become the debug control process.
detach continue execution of the target process and remove it
from control by the debug process.
run continue running the target process until a signal is
delivered, a breakpoint is hit, or the target process
exits.
step single step the target process, with no signal delivery.
wait wait for the target process to stop. The target process
must be stopped before any of the run, step, or signal
commands are allowed.
The string can also be the name of a signal, lower case and with‐
out the SIG prefix, in which case that signal is delivered to the
process (see sigaction(2)).
cwd A symbolic link that points to the current working directory of
the process. If the target process's current working directory
is not available or is not at or below the current process's root
directory, this link will point to “/”.
fd/# File descriptors which can be accessed through the file system.
See fd(4) for more information.
file A reference to the vnode from which the process text was read.
This can be used to gain access to the process' symbol table, or
to start another copy of the process.
map A map of the process' virtual memory.
maps A map of the process' virtual memory in a form like the proc
filesystem as implemented in Linux. Note that the paths corre‐
sponding to file backed mappings will not be present unless the
kernel was built with the NAMECACHE_ENTER_REVERSE option.
mem The complete virtual memory image of the process. Only those
addresses which exist in the process can be accessed. Writes to
this file modify the process. Writes to the text segment nor‐
mally remain private to the process, since the text segment is
mapped with MAP_PRIVATE; however, this is not guaranteed.
note Not implemented.
notepg Not implemented.
regs Allows read and write access to the process' register set. This
file contains a binary data structure struct regs defined in
<machine/reg.h>. regs can only be written when the process is
stopped.
fpregs The floating point registers as defined by struct fpregs in
<machine/reg.h>. fpregs is only implemented on machines which
have distinct general purpose and floating point register sets.
root A symbolic link that points to the root directory of the process.
If the target process's root directory is not available or is not
at or below the current process's root directory, this link will
point to “/”.
status The process status. This file is readonly and returns a single
line containing multiple space-separated fields as follows:
· command name
· process id
· parent process id
· process group id
· session id
· major,minor of the controlling terminal, or -1,-1 if there is
no controlling terminal.
· a list of process flags: ctty if there is a controlling ter‐
minal, sldr if the process is a session leader, noflags if
neither of the other two flags are set.
· the process start time in seconds and microseconds, comma
separated.
· the user time in seconds and microseconds, comma separated.
· the system time in seconds and microseconds, comma separated.
· the wait channel message
· the process credentials consisting of the effective user id
and the list of groups (whose first member is the effective
group id) all comma separated.
In a normal debugging environment, where the target is fork/exec'd by the
debugger, the debugger should fork and the child should stop itself (with
a self-inflicted SIGSTOP for example). The parent should issue a wait
and then an attach command via the appropriate ctl file. The child
process will receive a SIGTRAP immediately after the call to exec (see
execve(2)).
FILES
/proc/#
/proc/#/cmdline
/proc/#/ctl
/proc/#/cwd
/proc/#/exe
/proc/#/file
/proc/#/fpregs
/proc/#/map
/proc/#/maps
/proc/#/mem
/proc/#/note
/proc/#/notepg
/proc/#/regs
/proc/#/root
/proc/#/status
/proc/curproc
/proc/self
If the linux mount option is used, the following files are also avail‐
able:
/proc/#/stat
/proc/cpuinfo
/proc/devices
/proc/meminfo
/proc/mounts
/proc/uptime
SEE ALSOmount(2), sigaction(2), unmount(2)HISTORY
The mount_procfs utility first appeared in 4.4BSD.
BUGS
This filesystem may not be NFS-exported since most of the functionality
of procfs requires that state be maintained.
BSD February 24, 2009 BSD
