setproctitle -- set process title
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
void
setproctitle(const char *fmt, ...);
The setproctitle() library routine sets the process title that appears on
the ps(1) command.
The title is set from the executable's name, followed by the result of a
printf(3) style expansion of the arguments as specified by the fmt argument.
If the fmt argument begins with a ``-'' character, the executable's
name is skipped.
If fmt is NULL, the process title is restored.
To set the title on a daemon to indicate its activity:
setproctitle("talking to %s", inet_ntoa(addr));
ps(1), w(1), kvm(3), kvm_getargv(3), printf(3)
The setproctitle() function is implicitly non-standard. Other methods of
causing the ps(1) command line to change, including copying over the
argv[0] string are also implicitly non-portable. It is preferable to use
an operating system supplied setproctitle() if present.
Unfortunately, it is possible that there are other calling conventions to
other versions of setproctitle(), although none have been found by the
author as yet. This is believed to be the predominant convention.
It is thought that the implementation is compatible with other systems,
including NetBSD and BSD/OS.
The setproctitle() function first appeared in FreeBSD 2.2. Other operating
systems have similar functions.
Peter Wemm <[email protected]> stole the idea from the Sendmail 8.7.3
source code by Eric Allman <[email protected]>.
Never pass a string with user-supplied data as a format without using
`%s'. An attacker can put format specifiers in the string to mangle your
stack, leading to a possible security hole. This holds true even if the
string was built using a function like snprintf(), as the resulting
string may still contain user-supplied conversion specifiers for later
interpolation by setproctitle().
Always use the proper secure idiom:
setproctitle("%s", string);
FreeBSD 5.2.1 December 16, 1995 FreeBSD 5.2.1 [ Back ] | 