SMEMCAP(8)

📦 version 1.5, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💾 SMEMCAP 💾

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for smemcap — it lives in section 8 of the manual, and it is genuinely one of the most lowkey iconic little tools out there. no cap.

✨ NAME ✨

smemcap — capture memory usage data so smem can snack on it later 🍓

🫶 SYNOPSIS 🫶

that's it. that's the whole thing. she's simple, she's small, she's perfect. 💅

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so here's the vibe: smemcap grabs data off your system so that smem can process it later. that's literally her whole job and she does it flawlessly.

she captures all the /proc entries that smem needs, and then outputs them as an uncompressed .tar file straight to STDOUT. yes, STDOUT. she's not writing files behind your back, she's just yeeting that tar right at your terminal, main character energy. 👑

then later, smem can analyze that output if you hit it with the --source option. teamwork makes the dream work, fr fr. 💖

and here's the part that ate: smemcap is small, and it does not require Python. not even a little. zero Python. she's lean, she's portable, she's that girl. ✨

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

ngl there are none. this program does not accept any options.

not one. not a single flag. she said "I come as I am" and honestly? respect. 🦋

🧚 EXAMPLE 🧚

here's the whole workflow in one line, bestie:

look at that. redirect the tar to a file, and boom, you've got yourself a memorycapture.tar. slay. 🔥

💜 FILES 💜

these are the /proc entries she's scooping up, in order:

  • /proc/$pid/cmdline
  • /proc/$pid/smaps
  • /proc/$pid/stat
  • /proc/meminfo
  • /proc/version

that's the whole shopping list. no more, no less. 🛒

🌈 RESOURCES 🌈

want to slide into her DMs? here's where to find her:

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

go read these too, they're all part of the same friend group:

smem(8), free(1), pmap(1), proc(5), ps(1), top(1), vmstat(8)

⭐ COPYING ⭐

Copyright (C) 2008-2009 Matt Mackall. Free use of this software is granted under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 or later.

so basically: free to use, just keep the license terms. periodt. 💅

💖 AUTHOR 💖

smem was written by Matt Mackall. king behaviour, honestly. 👑

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this version of the smemcap manual page (section 8, the one and only) was dated 17/06/2013 — yes that's the 17/06/2013 you see at the bottom of the original, she's a classic. mwah, love u, go capture some memory 💜✨

📦 where this page comes from