can ps command get stuck?

yinonby · 01-02-2012, 03:07 AM

Hello,
I have heard that in some scenario "ps -ef" can get stuck.
If this is true, then:
{
Why exactly does this happen?
or
How can I simulate it?
}

10x

honeybadger · 01-02-2012, 11:50 AM

I have run 'ps -ef' 'ps -e' 'ps aux' n number of times without the command getting stuck. I think I have been running this command since the past 3 years or so. Do not believe _everything_ you hear. As far as stimulation is concerned I believe no software is perfect and so passing some arguments can crash ps. But then you would need to go through the man pages, the local docs (for your version of ps) and finally the source code.
BTW welcome to LQ.

yinonby · 01-03-2012, 06:14 AM

Thanks you, honeybadger, for your response. However, there is some evidance online, of people who got this scenario:
http://serverfault.com/questions/172...s-aux-is-stuck
http://serverfault.com/questions/257...-ef-gets-stuck
http://unix.stackexchange.com/questi...-ef-gets-stuck

So I was hoping someone here knows this really-rare-issue.

kirukan · 01-03-2012, 07:55 AM

The links that you have mentioned, from there you could see the Load average for the system is too high. There are possible reasons when system Load average is high the console may response slowly when you execute commands

unSpawn · 01-03-2012, 08:31 AM

...and to simulate that and more there's a stand-alone binary called "stress". Real easy.

yinonby · 01-11-2012, 08:43 AM

Thank you for your notes.
Indeed the average load was high, but the ps command was not delayed but rather stuck.
I will try the "stress" and let you know whether it did it.

unSpawn · 01-19-2012, 07:37 AM

first item searching Freecode (The Site Formerly Known As Freshmeat) http://freecode.com/search?q=stress&submit=Search