Lesson plan

Procfs

The proc filesystem (procfs) is a special filesystem in Unix-like operating systems that presents information about processes and other system information in a hierarchical file-like structure, providing a more convenient and standardized method for dynamically accessing process data held in the kernel than traditional tracing methods or direct access to kernel memory. Typically, it is mapped to a mount point named /proc at boot time. The proc file system acts as an interface to internal data structures about running processes in the kernel. In Linux, it can also be used to obtain information about the kernel and to change certain kernel parameters at runtime (sysctl). Many Unix-like operating systems support the proc filesystem, including System V, Solaris, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX, BSD, Linux, IBM AIX, QNX, and Plan 9 from Bell Labs. OpenBSD dropped support in version 5.7, released in May 2015. It is absent from HP-UX and macOS. The Linux kernel extends it to non–process-related data. The proc filesystem provides a method of communication between kernel space and user space. For example, the ps command on Plan 9 and the GNU version of the process reporting utility ps uses the proc file system to obtain its data, without using any specialized system calls.

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Article summary

The proc filesystem (procfs) is a special filesystem in Unix-like operating systems that presents information about processes and other system information in a hierarchical file-like structure, providing a more convenient and standardized method for dynamically accessing process data held in the kernel than traditional tracing methods or direct access to kernel memory. Typically, it is mapped to a mount point named /proc at boot time. The proc file system acts as an interface to internal data structures about running processes in the kernel. In Linux, it can also be used to obtain information about the kernel and to change certain kernel parameters at runtime (sysctl). Many Unix-like operating systems support the proc filesystem, including System V, Solaris, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX, BSD, Linux, IBM AIX, QNX, and Plan 9 from Bell Labs. OpenBSD dropped support in version 5.7, released in May 2015. It is absent from HP-UX and macOS. The Linux kernel extends it to non–process-related data. The proc filesystem provides a method of communication between kernel space and user space. For example, the ps command on Plan 9 and the GNU version of the process reporting utility ps uses the proc file system to obtain its data, without using any specialized system calls.

Key claims

  1. release date: 2015 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the release date is "2015". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1359563394

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.