PGET(9)

👑 PGET(9) — the Kernel Developer's Manual, bestie edition ✨

okay so real talk, this one's from the kernel dev manual and it's literally called pget — the whole vibe is "find a process by number" 💅

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🌸 NAME

pget — locate a process by number, fr fr 🔍

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✨ SYNOPSIS

#include <sys/param.h>
#include <sys/proc.h>

int
pget(pid_t pid, int flags, struct proc **pp);

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💖 DESCRIPTION

okay so here's the tea ☕ — this function takes a pid as its argument, and that pid can be either a process id or a thread id, and it fills a pointer to the proc structure into *pp. in the thread-id case, it goes looking for the process that owns the specified thread. the actual searching is done by calling pfind(9). iconic delegation honestly 🫶

now the important part, don't skip this 👇 the found process is returned locked. except for the PGET_HOLD case, where it comes back unlocked (but held). and depending on the flags argument, pget() can do some extra little manipulations on top of that. main character energy 🌟

the flags argument is the logical OR of some subset of these beauties:

• PGET_HOLD — if set, the found process will be held and unlocked 💜
• PGET_CANSEE — if set, the found process gets checked for its visibility. see p_cansee(9) 👀
• PGET_CANDEBUG — if set, the found process gets checked for its debuggability. see p_candebug(9) 🐛
• PGET_ISCURRENT — if set, the found process gets checked that it matches the current process context 🎯
• PGET_NOTWEXIT — if set, the found process gets checked that it does not have the process flag P_WEXIT set 🚪
• PGET_NOTINEXEC — if set, the found process gets checked that it does not have the process flag P_INEXEC set 🏃‍♀️
• PGET_NOTID — if set, pid is not assumed as a thread id for values larger than PID_MAX 🙈
• PGET_WANTREAD — if set, the found process gets checked that the caller may get read access to its structure. it's a shorthand for (PGET_HOLD | PGET_CANDEBUG | PGET_NOTWEXIT) ✨

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🔥 RETURN VALUES

if the process is found in the specified way, you get zero back — slay 🎉 otherwise you get an appropriate error code. no cap, that's the whole contract 💀

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🦋 SEE ALSO

p_candebug(9), p_cansee(9), pfind(9) — go read these too, iykyk 💖

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and that's the page!! 🎀 this little gem is from the Debian edition of the manual, dated May 3, 2014 — oldie but a goodie, and it still ate 💅✨