procfs
procfs (abbreviation for process filesystem , translated 'process file system ') is a virtual file system on mostly Unix systems. It is used to display and change system and process parameters. It is usually included in the directory structure under /proc
. It is generated dynamically by the kernel during the boot process and is not saved.
history
The first /proc
was introduced by Tom J. Killian in the eighth Unix version. Today's procfs has its origin in the operating system Plan 9 , from where it was adopted as one of the few concepts in other operating systems. It follows the Unix philosophy “ Everything is a file ”, since all information is available in virtual files.
Linux
Processes
On Linux every process is given a directory according to the format . This contains various virtual files that provide data about the process.
/proc/PID
System information
procfs provides a wealth of information about various parts of the computer. Since the 2.6 kernel, many parts have been moved to the sysfs file system, which is also virtual .
For example, the file contains /proc/cpuinfo
detailed information about the processor.