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Diffstat (limited to 'src/ps/HACKING')
-rw-r--r-- | src/ps/HACKING | 46 |
1 files changed, 46 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/src/ps/HACKING b/src/ps/HACKING new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7a6b4c --- /dev/null +++ b/src/ps/HACKING @@ -0,0 +1,46 @@ +Warning: + +This code must corrctly handle lots of picky little details to meet +the Unix98 standard while simultaneously being as compatible as +possible with the original Linux ps. Don't "fix" something without +considering the impact on all the special-case code. For example, +the "tty" format _must_ use "TT" as the header, even though the SysV +output formats _must_ use "TTY". + +File overview: + +display.c main(), debug code, iterates over processes +escape.c Does stuff like \202 and < to command and environment. +global.c Data + code to init it. +help.c Help message. +output.c Giant tables and lots of output functions. +parser.c Initial command parsing. +select.c want_this_proc() checks a process against flags & lists +sortformat.c Parses sort & format specifier lists. Picks output format. +stacktrace.c Debug code, not normally used. +../proc/* Library used to gather data. +regression Regression tests that ought to be run. +common.h Lots of interesting stuff. +Makefile Makefile +p Script used to test ps when the library is not installed. +utf Empty file used to test "ps ut?" unmangling behavior. +ps.1 Man page. + +Operation: + +Unless the personality forces BSD parsing, parser.c tries to parse the +command line as a mixed BSD+SysV+Gnu mess. On failure, BSD parsing is +attempted. If BSD parsing fails _after_ SysV parsing has been attempted, +the error message comes from the original SysV parse. + +Control goes to sortformat.c, which must pick apart ambiguous options +like "O". Failure can reset the whole program and set PER_FORCE_BSD, +which means a second trip through parser.c and sortformat.c. + +The choice of output format happens in sortformat.c. There is a switch() +with all the valid format_flags combinations. The SysV and default +options are NULL (unless overridden by personality), which causes a +trip through SysV output format generation hackery. Note that the +default format always goes through there, even if it is for BSD. +Formats that came from the switch() (generally BSD, plus overrides) +get mangled a bit to support various SysV output modifiers. |