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man:acct

ACCT(5) Linux Programmer's Manual ACCT(5)

NAME

     acct - process accounting file

SYNOPSIS

     #include <sys/acct.h>

DESCRIPTION

     If the kernel is built with the process accounting option enabled (CON-
     FIG_BSD_PROCESS_ACCT), then calling acct(2) starts process  accounting,
     for example:
         acct("/var/log/pacct");
     When  process  accounting is enabled, the kernel writes a record to the
     accounting file as each process on the system terminates.  This  record
     contains  information  about  the terminated process, and is defined in
     <sys/acct.h> as follows:
         #define ACCT_COMM 16
         typedef u_int16_t comp_t;
         struct acct {
             char ac_flag;           /* Accounting flags */
             u_int16_t ac_uid;       /* Accounting user ID */
             u_int16_t ac_gid;       /* Accounting group ID */
             u_int16_t ac_tty;       /* Controlling terminal */
             u_int32_t ac_btime;     /* Process creation time
                                        (seconds since the Epoch) */
             comp_t    ac_utime;     /* User CPU time */
             comp_t    ac_stime;     /* System CPU time */
             comp_t    ac_etime;     /* Elapsed time */
             comp_t    ac_mem;       /* Average memory usage (kB) */
             comp_t    ac_io;        /* Characters transferred (unused) */
             comp_t    ac_rw;        /* Blocks read or written (unused) */
             comp_t    ac_minflt;    /* Minor page faults */
             comp_t    ac_majflt;    /* Major page faults */
             comp_t    ac_swaps;     /* Number of swaps (unused) */
             u_int32_t ac_exitcode;  /* Process termination status
                                        (see wait(2)) */
             char      ac_comm[ACCT_COMM+1];
                                     /* Command name (basename of last
                                        executed  command;  null-terminated)
         */
             char      ac_pad[X];    /* padding bytes */ };
         enum {          /* Bits that may be set in ac_flag field */
             AFORK = 0x01,           /* Has executed fork, but no exec */
             ASU   = 0x02,           /* Used superuser privileges */
             ACORE = 0x08,           /* Dumped core */
             AXSIG = 0x10            /* Killed by a signal */ };
     The  comp_t  data type is a floating-point value consisting of a 3-bit,
     base-8 exponent, and a 13-bit mantissa.  A value, c, of this  type  can
     be converted to a (long) integer as follows:
         v = (c & 0x1fff) << (((c >> 13) & 0x7) * 3);
     The  ac_utime,  ac_stime,  and  ac_etime  fields measure time in "clock
     ticks"; divide these values by sysconf(_SC_CLK_TCK) to convert them  to
     seconds.
 Version 3 accounting file format
     Since  kernel  2.6.8, an optional alternative version of the accounting
     file can be produced if the CONFIG_BSD_PROCESS_ACCT_V3  option  is  set
     when building the kernel.  With this option is set, the records written
     to the accounting file contain additional  fields,  and  the  width  of
     c_uid and ac_gid fields is widened from 16 to 32 bits (in line with the
     increased size of UID and GIDs in Linux 2.4 and  later).   The  records
     are defined as follows:
         struct acct_v3 {
             char      ac_flag;      /* Flags */
             char      ac_version;   /* Always set to ACCT_VERSION (3) */
             u_int16_t ac_tty;       /* Controlling terminal */
             u_int32_t ac_exitcode;  /* Process termination status */
             u_int32_t ac_uid;       /* Real user ID */
             u_int32_t ac_gid;       /* Real group ID */
             u_int32_t ac_pid;       /* Process ID */
             u_int32_t ac_ppid;      /* Parent process ID */
             u_int32_t ac_btime;     /* Process creation time */
             float     ac_etime;     /* Elapsed time */
             comp_t    ac_utime;     /* User CPU time */
             comp_t    ac_stime;     /* System time */
             comp_t    ac_mem;       /* Average memory usage (kB) */
             comp_t    ac_io;        /* Characters transferred (unused) */
             comp_t    ac_rw;        /* Blocks read or written
                                        (unused) */
             comp_t    ac_minflt;    /* Minor page faults */
             comp_t    ac_majflt;    /* Major page faults */
             comp_t    ac_swaps;     /* Number of swaps (unused) */
             char      ac_comm[ACCT_COMM]; /* Command name */ };

VERSIONS

     The acct_v3 structure is defined in glibc since version 2.6.

CONFORMING TO

     Process  accounting  originated on BSD.  Although it is present on most
     systems, it is not standardized, and the details vary somewhat  between
     systems.

NOTES

     Records  in  the accounting file are ordered by termination time of the
     process.
     In kernels up to and including 2.6.9, a separate accounting  record  is
     written for each thread created using the NPTL threading library; since
     Linux 2.6.10, a single accounting record  is  written  for  the  entire
     process on termination of the last thread in the process.
     The  /proc/sys/kernel/acct file, described in proc(5), defines settings
     that control the behavior of process accounting when  disk  space  runs
     low.

SEE ALSO

     lastcomm(1), acct(2), accton(8), sa(8)

COLOPHON

     This  page  is  part of release 4.16 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
     description of the project, information about reporting bugs,  and  the
     latest     version     of     this    page,    can    be    found    at
     https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux 2017-09-15 ACCT(5)

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