[SOLVED] Neither grep nor locate find khelper. What does it do?

stf92 · 06-21-2011, 08:58 PM

Kernel 2.6.21.5, Slackware 12.0

Hi:

Just after the booting process is finished, running ps I get this:

Code:

root@darkstar:~# ps -e
  PID TTY          TIME CMD
    1 ?        00:00:01 init
    2 ?        00:00:00 migration/0
    3 ?        00:00:00 ksoftirqd/0
    4 ?        00:00:00 events/0
    5 ?        00:00:00 khelper
    6 ?        00:00:00 kthread
   83 ?        00:00:00 kblockd/0
   84 ?        00:00:00 kacpid
  155 ?        00:00:00 ata/0
  156 ?        00:00:00 ata_aux
  157 ?        00:00:00 ksuspend_usbd
  160 ?        00:00:00 khubd
  162 ?        00:00:00 kseriod
  174 ?        00:00:00 khpsbpkt
  182 ?        00:00:00 pdflush
  183 ?        00:00:00 pdflush
  184 ?        00:00:00 kswapd0
  185 ?        00:00:00 aio/0
  186 ?        00:00:00 jfsIO
  187 ?        00:00:00 jfsCommit
  188 ?        00:00:00 jfsSync
  189 ?        00:00:00 xfslogd/0
  190 ?        00:00:00 xfsdatad/0
  191 ?        00:00:00 ocfs2_wq
  192 ?        00:00:00 user_dlm
  870 ?        00:00:00 scsi_tgtd/0
  919 ?        00:00:00 exec-osm/0
  924 ?        00:00:00 block-osm/0
  964 ?        00:00:00 kcryptd/0
 1041 ?        00:00:03 udevd
 1509 ?        00:00:00 kgameportd
 2356 ?        00:00:00 kpsmoused
 2455 ?        00:00:00 syslogd
 2459 ?        00:00:00 klogd
 2736 ?        00:00:00 dhcpcd
 2825 ?        00:00:00 inetd
 2833 ?        00:00:00 acpid
 2841 ?        00:00:00 dbus-daemon
 2846 ?        00:00:00 hald
 2847 ?        00:00:00 hald-runner
 2853 ?        00:00:00 hald-addon-keyb
 2856 ?        00:00:00 hald-addon-acpi
 2867 ?        00:00:00 hald-addon-stor
 2869 ?        00:00:00 hald-addon-stor
 2875 ?        00:00:00 crond
 2877 ?        00:00:00 atd
 2908 ?        00:00:00 gpm
 2911 tty1     00:00:00 bash
 2912 tty2     00:00:00 agetty
 2913 tty3     00:00:00 agetty
 2914 tty4     00:00:00 agetty
 2915 tty5     00:00:00 agetty
 2916 tty6     00:00:00 bash
 2981 tty1     00:00:00 ps
 2982 tty1     00:00:00 bash
root@darkstar:~#

As you can see, there are a lot of names beginning with the letter 'k'. Are these processes needed for the GUI to be fully functional when it is run (X Window System + WM + Xfce4)? And can I setup the system such that they're never run?

The reason for this question is that I am testing some programs and need the CPU to have as little time stolen as possible.

george-lappies · 06-22-2011, 12:51 AM

As far as I know it is a permanent kernel thread helper and as such should not be located via locate as it is not a file.

stf92 · 06-22-2011, 01:22 AM

Thank you so much.

jostber · 06-22-2011, 04:29 AM

The khelper programs and similar with low PIDs are kernel or system processes that is necessary for installation to work. If you want to reduce CPU load you can remove services or packages you don't need.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ckware-777436/

Use this as a reference so you don't remove any packages you need.

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/...inimal_Install