diff options
author | Mark Wong <markwkm@gmail.com> | 2008-02-23 17:22:59 -0800 |
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committer | Mark Wong <markwkm@gmail.com> | 2008-02-23 17:22:59 -0800 |
commit | 2214a4dcb80ee71c3d37202eee9d0ab9983e57fb (patch) | |
tree | dcb87b501df381d4e73254aa5aea5d061b37de54 /ptop.faq | |
parent | ce9060686b7c1d303d99ed679290e80d97f7e523 (diff) |
Removed scripts and source files for generating the FAQ because they usedv3.6.1-beta4
FaqMaker, which appears not be free software. Keeping the generated FAQ to
edit for the future.
Diffstat (limited to 'ptop.faq')
-rw-r--r-- | ptop.faq | 292 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 292 deletions
diff --git a/ptop.faq b/ptop.faq deleted file mode 100644 index 6bf209a..0000000 --- a/ptop.faq +++ /dev/null @@ -1,292 +0,0 @@ -%title TOP -%title Version 3.6.1 - -%center William LeFebvre -%center with much help from others - -%title Frequently Asked Questions and their Answers - -%TOC - -%section General - -%question What is top? -%answer Top provies the user with a regularly updated display showing -information about the system and its top cpu-using processes. -Think of it as a full-screen "ps" output that gets updated at -regular intervals. - -%question Where do I get the latest version of top? -%answer The official site for top is "ftp.unixtop.org" in the directory -"/pub/top". Top is also a SourceForge project, and the most recent -releases are available on any of the SourceForge mirrors. The SourceForge -project page is at http://sourceforge.net/projects/unixtop. - -%question Is there a web page for top? -%answer Yes. Point your browser at http://www.unixtop.org. It -includes all documentation, a nice interactive display which describes -the various components of the output of top, web-based retrieval of -the package, year 2000 information, and other neat stuff. - -%question Is there a mailing list or on-line bulletin board for top? -%answer There is a mailing list used for general announcements regarding top, -including new releases. This mailing list is available to sourceforge -members and can be accessed from the unixtop sourceforge project page. -Visit SourceForge and search for the project "unixtop", then click on -"mailing lists". There are also on-line forums available through -SourceForge where members can post questions and comments. - -%question What about Year 2000 compliance? -%answer Top did not experience any problems with the transition to the year -2000. A full statement concerning top and the year 2000 can be found -in the file "Y2K" included with the distribution. - -%question Will there be another major release of top? Will there be a -top version 4? -%answer -I have some great ideas for the next major release of top, and I very -much want to make those ideas a reality. What I don't have much of these -days is free time. But I will keep poking at it and I hope to have top -version 4.0 ready by the fall of 2006. - -%question Does top really support multi-processor systems? -%answer -On platforms that support multiple processors, top is able to detect and -correctly summarize the information about those processors. What top -does not do is break down the cpu states summary (the third line of -the display) by cpu. Instead it collects the cpu state information from -all processors and combines them in to a single line. Some vendors -include a modified version of top that presents this information for -each cpu. Top 3.7 may have this functionality but it is not present -in the standard top 3.6 release. - -%question Is top under CVS control? Can I access the sources via -SourceForge CVS or Subversion? -%answer -I maintain top using subversion, not CVS. Although I utilize my own -private subversion repository, it is regularly mirrored in to the -SourceForge Subversion repository. You can access the SourceForge -repository here: https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/unixtop. - -%section Compiling - -%question We just upgraded our operating system to a new version and top -broke. What should we do? -%answer -Recompile it. Top is very sensitive to changes in internal kernel -data structures. It is not uncommon for a new version of the -operating system to include changes to kernel data structures. - -%section Running - -%question I just finished compiling top and it works fine for root, but when -I try to run it as a regular user it either complains about files -it can't open or it doesn't display all the information it should. -Did I do something wrong? -%answer -Well, you're just not done. On many operating systems today, access -to many of the kernel memory devices and other system files is -restricted to either root or a particular group. The configure script -figures this out (usually) and makes sure that the "install" rule in -the Makefile will install top so that anyone can run it successfully. -However, you have to %em{install} it first. Do this with the command -"make install". - -%question Top is (not) displaying idle processes and I don't (do) want -it to. -%answer -This default has only changed about a dozen times, and I finally got -tired of people whining about it. Go read the manual page for the -current version and pay special attention to the description of the -"TOP" environment variable. - -%question We have so much memory in our machine that the memory status -display (the fourth line) ends up being longer than 80 characters. This -completely messes up top's output. Is there a patch? -%answer -Most modules have been changed to use new memory formatting functions -which will display large values in terms of megabytes instead of -kilobytes. This should fix all occurences of this problem. Also -note that newer versions of top can use columns beyond 79, and -understand window resizes. So you can always make your window wider. - -%question I tried to compile top with gcc and it doesn't work. I get -compilation errors in the include files, or I get an executable that -dumps core, or top displays incorrect numbers in some of the displays. -What's wrong? -%answer -Gnu CC likes very much to use its own include files. Not being a gcc -expert, I can't explain why it does this. But I can tell you that if -you upgrade your operating system (say from Solaris 2.6 to Solaris -2.7) after installing gcc, then the include files that gcc uses will -be incorrect, especially those found in the "sys" directory. Your -choices are: (1) rebuild and reinstall the "standard" include files -for gcc (look for scripts in the distribution called "fixincludes" and -"fixinc.svr4"), (2) compile machine.c with "CFLAGS=-I/usr/include" -then make the rest of the object files normally, or (3) use a -different compiler. - -%question The cpu state percentages are all wrong, indicating that my -machine is using 95% system time when it is clearly idle. What's wrong? -%answer -This can happen if you compiled with gcc using the wrong include -files. See the previous question. - -%section MacOSX Problems - -%question I tried to configure top on my Mac OSX system and I got -an error claiming "macosx not supported". What up? -%answer -Since I don't have full time root access to a Mac OSX system I cannot -provide effective support for the platform. MacOSX uses Mach, and it -is very difficult to extract accurate system and process information -from the system. It takes a lot of trial and error, along with root -access. I have included the most up-to-date version of the macosx module -in the distribution, but I do not claim that it works. If you want to -try to use it, you can configure with "./configure --with-module=macosx". - -%section SunOS Problems - -%question I tried compiling top under SunOS version 4.1.x and it -got compile time errors or run time errors. Is there a patch? -%answer -If you try compiling top in a "System V environment" under SunOS (that -is, /usr/5bin is before /usr/bin on your path) then the compilation -may fail. This is mostly due to the fact that top thinks its being -compiled on a System V machine when it really isn't. The only solution -is to put /usr/bin and /usr/ucb before /usr/5bin on your path and try -again. - -%section Solaris Problems - -%answer -NOTE: the most common source of problems with top under Solaris is the -result of compiling it with the wrong front end. Make sure that /usr/ucb -is not on your path before attempting to compile top under Solaris. - -%question Is there somewhere I can get a pre-compiled package? -%answer -Yes. Although I don't provide pre-compiled binaries, you can get a -Sun-style package from www.sunfreeware.com. - -%question Under Solaris 2, when I type "make", the system says "language -optional software package not installed." What's going on? -%answer -You tried to compile with /usr/ucb/cc. Make sure /usr/ucb is not on -your path. Furthermore, you do not have a Sun compiler installed on -your system. You need a compiler to make top. Either Sun's C -compiler or the Gnu C compiler will work fine. - -%question Under Solaris 2, when I run top as root it only shows root -processes, or it only shows processes with a PID less than 1000. It -refuses to show anything else. What do I do? -%answer -You probably compiled it with /usr/ucb/cc instead of the real C -compiler. /usr/ucb/cc is a cc front end that compiles programs in BSD -source-level compatability mode. You do not want that. Make sure -that /usr/ucb is not on your path and try compiling top again. - -%question Under Solaris 2, I compiled top using what I am sure is the correct -compiler but when I try to run it it complains about missing dynamic -libraries. What is wrong? -%answer -Check to see if you have LD_LIBRARY_PATH defined in your shell. If -you do, make sure that /usr/ucblib is not on the path anywhere. Then -try compiling top again. - -%question Under Solaris 2, when I try to run top it complains that it -can't open the library "libucb.so.1". So I changed the LIBS line in -m_sunos5.c to include -R/usr/ucblib to make sure that the dynamic -linker will look there when top runs. I figured this was just an -oversight. Was I right? -%answer -No, you were not right. As distributed, top requires no alterations -for successful compilation and operations under any release of Solaris -2. You probably compiled top with /usr/ucb/cc instead of the real C -compiler. See FAQ 22 for more details. - -%question On my 64-bit system some processes show up with incorrect -information (such as zero memory). -%answer -%mark{64bit} -If you are running a 64-bit system, then you will want to make a -64-bit top binary. Top's configure script attempts to detect 64-bit -systems, and will adjust the compilation options accordingly. If you -configure and make a binary on a 32-bit system it will still run on -a 64-bit system, but may not produce the correct results. The same -will happen if you configure your distribution on a 32-bit system -then compile with that configuration on a 64-bit system. You must -configure and compile on the same system. - -%question Can I install both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries on a -central file server and have machines which mount it automatically -use the correct one? -%answer -Yes. First, compile a 32-bit version and name it top32. Then compile -a 64-bit version (see FAQ #%ref{64bit}) and name it top64. Make sure each -binary has the correct ownership and mode. Choose your bin directory -(we will refer to that as $BIN). In $BIN make sure there are -subdirectories named "sparcv7" and "sparcv9". If they don't exist -then create them. Copy "top32" to "$BIN/sparcv7/top" and -"top64" to "$BIN/sparcv9/top". Finally copy (do not link) the binary -/usr/lib/isaexec to "$BIN/top". When a user runs "top" she will -actually be running a copy of isaexec. This tool will automatically -determine the kernel type and run the top "binary" out of the correct -subdirectory. - -%question This version of top show less available swap space than -previous versions. Why does it no longer match the output of the -swap summary produced with "swap -s"? -%answer -Starting with version 3.6 of top, the amount of swap space reported -by top has been changed to reflect only disk-based swap space. The -swap summary produced with "swap -s" also include memory-based swap -space. This changed was mae for several reasons. It makes the display -under Solaris more like those of other operating systems. The display -is more what users expect (except those used to previous versions of top). -Most importantly, "swap -s" gets its data via an undocumented system -interface. Now that top no longer displays that data it can use -publically documented and maintained system interfaces to retrieve -its data. - -%section SVR4-derived Problems - -%question When I run top on my SVR4-derived operating system, it -displays all the system information at the top but does not display -any process information (or only displays process information for my -own processes). Yet when I run it as root, everything works fine. -What's wrong? -%answer -Your system probably uses the pseudo file system "/proc", which is by -default only accessible by root. Top needs to be installed setuid -root on such systems if it is going to function correctly for normal -users. - -%section SVR42 Problems - -%question The memory display doesn't work right. Why? -%answer -This is a known bug with the svr42 module. The problem has been traced -down to a potential bug in the "mem" driver. The author of the svr42 -module is working on a fix. - -%section Still Stuck - -%question I'm still stuck. To whom do I report problems with top? -%answer -The most common problems are caused by top's sensitivity to internal -kernel data structures. So make sure that you are using the right -include files, and make sure that you test out top on the same machine -where you compiled it. Sun's BSD Source Compatability Mode is also a -common culprit. Make sure you aren't using either /usr/ucb/cc or any -of the libraries in /usr/ucblib. Finally, make sure you are using the -correct module. If there does not appear to be one appropriate for -your computer, then top probably will not work on your system. - -If after reading all of this file and checking everything you can you -are still stuck, then please use SourceForge to submit a support -request or a bug. Top is supported by the SourceForge project -named "unixtop". On SourceForge you will find defect tracking, -a mailing list, and on-line forums. You can also contact the -author through SourceForge. - |