More Details on /proc files

[Alexey Fadyushin]

As far as I know, information from 'man proc' correctly describes the
contents of /proc files (i.e. fields described in 'man proc' have the
meanings as described there). Information on additional fields or files
not desribed there could be found in the kernel source tree - in the
file /usr/src/linux/Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt or in source code
files itself (for example, meaning of additional fields in
/proc/<pid>/stat could be undestood after reading the source code of
function proc_pid_stat in the file /usr/src/linux/fs/proc/array.c). I
think that some fields are not described in 'man proc' because their
meanings are not yet stabilized and could be changed in newer kernels,
so you should not rely on values of those nondescribed fields.

Alexey Fadyushin.
Brainbench MVP for Linux.
http://www.brainbench.com

Kedar Pimplikar wrote:
> Hello All,
> 
> I am developing an application which will output performance data of Redhat
> AS 3.0
> Approach I am using is to read /proc files.
> My question is where do I get COMPLETE documentation of the format of each
> file in /proc.
> I tried using man proc and procinfo.
> But when I see the actual /proc file and man page for same, the fields in
> proc file do not match with man page.
> For instance, cat /proc/<pid>/stat has more fields than specified in man
> page.
> 
> Also, man page do not specify all the fields of other files as well.
> 
> I am beginner in Linux and would appreciate your help on this.
> 
> Regards,
> Kedar.
> 
>