[TUHS] /proc - linux vs solaris

[tfb@tfeb.org (Tim Bradshaw)]

On 4 Aug 2014, at 23:23, Larry McVoy <lm at mcvoy.com> wrote:

> I get the arguments above but I don't buy 'em.  linux really got /proc
> right in terms of usefulness.  Digging binary blobs out of the kernel
> and translating them sucks.  I've done, I've written kmem drivers for
> ps, I understand how it works.  I far prefer the pure ascii model that
> Linux has.

I agree with this, with one caveat: there are things which exist in /proc which should be in a standard format (extensible if need be) but are not.  I forget the particular example but I've written patches for, I think, node.js which essentially came down to "add yet another special case for /proc/<whatever>", when there was just no reason that the thing should not have been in a standard format in the first place.

Certainly as a user of Solaris and Linux, Linux's /proc is just far more useful (though I like pmap).