KINFO_GETPROC(3)

💅 KINFO_GETPROC(3) — the libutil girlies' guide 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to the Library Functions Manual for KINFO_GETPROC(3), iykyk ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

kinfo_getproc — the function for getting process information from the kernel 🫶

🎀 LIBRARY 🎀

System Utilities Library — that's libutil, and you link it with -lutil 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/user.h>
#include <libutil.h>

struct kinfo_proc *
kinfo_getproc(pid_t pid);

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so this function is literally used for obtaining process information from the kernel, no cap 👑

The pid field contains the process identifier. It should be a process that you have privilege to access — like, do not come for processes you don't have the range for, bestie 🙈

This function is a wrapper around sysctl(3) with the KERN_PROC_PID mib. And here's the iconic part: while the kernel returns a packed structure, this function expands the data into a fixed record format. it's giving ✨glow-up✨

🌈 RETURN VALUES 🌈

On success, the kinfo_getproc() function returns a pointer to a struct kinfo_proc structure as defined by <sys/user.h>. That pointer was obtained by an internal call to malloc(3), so it's your problem now — it must be freed by the caller with a call to free(3). 🧚‍♀️

not me handing you memory and expecting you to clean it up… yes bestie, free it. please. 😭

On failure, the kinfo_getproc() function returns NULL. 💀

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• free(3)
• malloc(3)
• sysctl(3)

⭐ HISTORY ⭐

The kinfo_getproc() function first appeared in FreeBSD 7.0 — a true main character origin story 🎀

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okay that's the whole page, you ate that 💅✨💖 — sign-off time: this came from the Debian edition of the manpage, dated May 10, 2020, and honestly? iconic. periodt. 🍓🦋