SETPROCTITLE(3)

NAME
setproctitle - set the process title for ps(1)

LIBRARY
libc

SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
void
setproctitle(const char *fmt, ...);

DESCRIPTION
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.

EXAMPLES
To set the title on a daemon to indicate its activity:

    setproctitle("talking to %s", inet_ntoa(addr));

SEE ALSO
ps(1), w(1), kvm(3), kvm_getargv(3), printf(3)

STANDARDS
setproctitle() 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.

HISTORY
setproctitle() first appeared in FreeBSD 2.2. Other operating systems have similar functions.

AUTHORS
-nosplit Peter Wemm <peter@FreeBSD.org> stole the idea from the Sendmail 8.7.3 source code by Eric Allman <eric@sendmail.org>.