On Unix/Linux systems, there are quite a few commands that can provide insights into the processes that are running, the resources those processes use, and the users responsible for them. Some of ...

The /proc file system brings the processes on your Unix systems into view in some very useful ways, but only if you take the time to cd over to /proc and see all it can tell you. The /proc virtual ...

A reader recently asked how he could most easily terminate processes that were left running after his users had logged off a system. The processes in question were apparently consuming resources ...

In the business world, Unix computers are typically used for server applications and high-end graphics workstations, such as those used in creating computer graphics. Even if you're not a system ...

Linux tip: Many users are all too familiar with using Ctrl+Alt+Del (or, on a Mac, Cmd+Opt+Esc) to kill unresponsive processes. There isn't a comparable keyboard shortcut for Linux by default, but a ...

The fuser (pronounced “ef-user”) command is a very handy command for determining who is currently using a particular file or directory. If one user can’t access a file because another user has it ...

Daniel Colascione submitted some code to support processes knowing when others have terminated. Normally a process can tell when its own child processes have ended, but not unrelated processes, or at ...

The Linux operating system is powerful and flexible, able to run in several different modes of operation called run levels. When a Linux system starts, a function called "init" is used to configure ...