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============================================
:author: Daniele Varrazzo
The library allows a process to change its title (as displayed by system tools
such as ``ps`` and ``top``).
Changing the title is mostly useful in multi-process systems, for example
when a master process is forked: changing the children's title allows to
identify the task each process is busy with. The technique is used by
PostgreSQL_ and the `OpenSSH Server`_ for example.
The procedure is hardly portable across different systems. PostgreSQL provides
a good `multi-platform implementation`__: this module is a Python wrapper
around PostgreSQL code.
.. _PostgreSQL: http://www.postgresql.org
.. _OpenSSH Server: http://www.openssh.com/
.. __: http://doxygen.postgresql.org/ps__status_8c-source.html
Installation
------------
You can use ``easy_install`` to install the module: to perform a system-wide
installation use::
sudo easy_install setproctitle
If you are an unprivileged user or you want to limit installation to a local
environment, you can use the command::
easy_install -d /target/path setproctitle
Notice that ``easy_install`` requires ``/target/path`` to be in your
``PYTHONPATH``.
Module content
--------------
The module exports the following functions:
``setproctitle(title)``
Set *title* as the title for the current process.
``getproctitle()``
Return the current process title.
Module status
-------------
The module can be currently compiled and effectively used on the following
platforms:
- GNU/Linux
- BSD
- MacOS X
- Windows
Notice that on Windows there is no way to change the process string:
what the module does is to create a *Named Object* whose value can be read
using a tool such as `Process Explorer`_ (contribution of a more useful tool
to be used together with ``setproctitle`` would be well accepted).
The module can probably work on HP-UX, but I haven't found any to test with.
It is unlikely that it can work on Solaris instead.
.. _Process Explorer: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
Other known implementations and discussions
-------------------------------------------
- `procname`_: a module exposing the same functionality, but less portable
and not well packaged.
- `Issue 5672`_: where the introduction of such functionality into the stdlib
is being discussed.
.. _procname: http://code.google.com/p/procname/
.. _Issue 5672: http://bugs.python.org/issue5672
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