accounting: sa
1
1 4 `sa'
1 ******
1
1 `sa' summarizes information about previously executed commands as
1 recorded in the `acct' file. In addition, it condenses this data into
1 the `savacct' summary file, which contains the number of times the
1 command was called and the system resources used. The information can
1 also be summarized on a per-user basis; `sa' will save this information
1 into `usracct'. Usage:
1
1 `sa [OPTS] [FILE]'
1
1 If no arguments are specified, `sa' will print information about all
1 of the commands in the `acct' file. If command names have unprintable
1 characters, or are only called once, `sa' will sort them into a group
1 called `***other'. Overall totals for each field are gathered and
1 printed with a blank command name.
1
1 If called with a file name as the last argument, `sa' will use that
1 file instead of `acct'.
1
1 By default, `sa' will sort the output by sum of user and system time.
1
1 The output fields are labeled as follows:
1
1 `cpu'
1 sum of system and user time in cpu seconds
1
1 `re'
1 "real time" in cpu seconds
1
1 `k'
1 cpu-time averaged core usage, in 1k units
1
1 `avio'
1 average number of I/O operations per execution
1
1 `tio'
1 total number of I/O operations
1
1 `k*sec'
1 cpu storage integral (kilo-core seconds)
1
1 `u'
1 user cpu time in cpu seconds
1
1 `s'
1 system time in cpu seconds
1
1
1 Note that these column titles do not appear in the first row of the
1 table, but after each numeric entry (as units of measurement) in every
1 row. For example, you might see `79.29re', meaning 79.29 cpu seconds
1 of "real time."
1
1 An asterisk will appear after the name of commands that forked but
1 didn't call `exec'.
1
1 4.1 Flags
1 =========
1
1 The availability of these program options depends on your operating
1 system. In specific, the members that appear in the `struct acct' of
1 your system's process accounting header file (usually `acct.h')
1 determine which flags will be present. For example, if your system's
1 `struct acct' doesn't have the `ac_mem' field, the installed version of
1 `sa' will not support the `--sort-cpu-avmem', `--sort-ksec', `-k', or
1 `-K' options.
1
1 In short, all of these flags may not be available on your machine.
1
1 `-a'
1 `--list-all-names'
1 Force `sa' not to sort those command names with unprintable
1 characters and those used only once into the ``***other'' group.
1
1 `-b'
1 `--sort-sys-user-div-calls'
1 Sort the output by the sum of user and system time divided by the
1 number of calls.
1
1 `-c'
1 `--percentages'
1 Print percentages of total time for the command's user, system,
1 and real time values.
1
1 `-d'
1 `--sort-avio'
1 Sort the output by the average number of disk I/O operations.
1
1 `-D'
1 `--sort-tio'
1 Print and sort the output by the total number of disk I/O
1 operations.
1
1 `-f'
1 `--not-interactive'
1 When using the `--threshold' option, assume that all answers to
1 interactive queries will be affirmative.
1
1 `-i'
1 `--dont-read-summary-file'
1 Don't read the information in `savacct'.
1
1 `-j'
1 `--print-seconds'
1 Instead of printing total minutes for each category, print seconds
1 per call.
1
1 `-k'
1 `--sort-cpu-avmem'
1 Sort the output by cpu time average memory usage.
1
1 `-K'
1 `--sort-ksec'
1 Print and sort the output by the cpu-storage integral.
1
1 `-l'
1 `--separate-times'
1 Print separate columns for system and user time; usually the two
1 are added together and listed as `cpu'.
1
1 `-m'
1 `--user-summary'
1 Print the number of processes and number of CPU minutes on a
1 per-user basis.
1
1 `-n'
1 `--sort-num-calls'
1 Sort the output by the number of calls. This is the default
1 sorting method.
1
1 `-p'
1 `--show-paging'
1 Print the number of minor and major pagefaults and swaps.
1
1 `-P'
1 `--show-paging-avg'
1 Print the number of minor and major pagefaults and swaps divided by
1 the number of calls.
1
1 `-r'
1 `--reverse-sort'
1 Sort output items in reverse order.
1
1 `-s'
1 `--merge'
1 Merge the summarized accounting data into the summary files
1 `savacct' and `usracct'.
1
1 `-t'
1 `--print-ratio'
1 For each entry, print the ratio of real time to the sum of system
1 and user times. If the sum of system and user times is too small
1 to report--the sum is zero--`*ignore*' will appear in this field.
1
1 `-u'
1 `--print-users'
1 For each command in the accounting file, print the userid and
11 command name. After printing all entries, quit. ⇒* this flag
supersedes all others.
1
1 `-v NUM'
1 `--threshold NUM'
1 Print commands which were executed NUM times or fewer and await a
1 reply from the terminal. If the response begins with `y', add the
1 command to the `**junk**' group.
1
1 `--separate-forks'
1 It really doesn't make any sense to me that the stock version of
1 `sa' separates statistics for a particular executable depending on
1 whether or not that command forked. Therefore, GNU `sa' lumps this
1 information together unless this option is specified.
1
1 `--sort-real-time'
1 Sort the output by the "real time" (elapsed time) for each command.
1
1 `--ahz HZ'
1 Use this flag to tell the program what `AHZ' should be (in hertz).
1 This option is useful if you are trying to view an `acct' file
1 created on another machine which has the same byte order and file
1 format as your current machine, but has a different value for
1 `AHZ'.
1
1 `--debug'
1 Print verbose internal information.
1
1 `-V'
1 `--version'
1 Print `sa''s version number.
1
1 `-h'
1 `--help'
1 Print `sa''s usage string and default locations of system files to
1 standard output.
1
1 ⇒* if more than one sorting option is specified, the list will
1 be sorted by the one specified last on the command line.
1
1 4.2 Problems
1 ============
1
1 I haven't been able to test this on many different machines because the
1 data files grow so big in a short time; our sysadmin would rather save
1 the disk space.
1
1 Most versions of `sa' that I've tested don't pay attention to flags
1 like `--print-seconds' and `--sort-num-calls' when printing out
1 commands when combined with the `--user-summary' or `--print-users'
1 flags. GNU `sa' pays attention to these flags if they are applicable.
1
1 4.2.1 mips sa
1 -------------
1
1 The average memory use is stored as a short rather than a double, so we
1 suffer from round-off errors. GNU `sa' uses double the whole way
1 through.
1