I'm the author of the "ps" program. I notice that your procps maintainer does not seem to get email that I send. (he may be busy -- I don't know) There have been many fixes to the procps package, but you still seem to have a buggy old version according to the bug database you have on the web.
I and the package maintainer both use Red Hat, so there is no way either one of us could produce Debian packages. I hate to see you stuck with an obsolete version though. I've no idea if you are preparing a release now, but I'm sure you will want to get this package updated before then. BTW, it is highly likely that your /bin/kill program is in violation of the appropriate standards. I supply an alternative with procps that you might want to consider using instead. http://www.cs.uml.edu/~acahalan/linux/procps-990417.tar.gz ----------- recent changes ------------------ Changes for procps-990320 --> procps-990417 include: various Makefile fixes kill man page restored fixed %cpu wrap after 1/2 day of CPU time minor man page updates "skill" should compile with crummy SPARC headers snice man page now just a reference vmstat column width change buffer overflow in watch fixed top has a few new options Hertz value should be correct on SMP hardware procps-990312 --> procps-990320 Noted some bugs in the TODO file header control changed PID limit adjusted procps-990224 --> procps-990312 moved GPL and LGPL files around, various related updates version number now 2.0 build process fixed up a bit free works better through a pipe glibc patch included skill-kill-snice man pages look normal now, plus minor content updates many man pages now part of the "Linux User's Manual" search for "/System.map" too tone of HZ rant adjusted more Mandatory Access Control support (needs kernel work) struct names changed to please gdb users AIX added to the list of modern UNIX systems exit(1) as needed for crummy old scripts changed "dead kids" reference to something less disgusting added many new format specifiers to the ps man page bug fix in skill-snice-kill name code ioctl changed to tcsetattr vmstat output columns are wider watch man page fix w.c fix -------------- debian bug list -------------------- #34394: ps can't handle PIDs > 30000 fixed, in the previous version #27291: Top is confused with too many processes not reproducable, likely fixed a long time ago #33023: procps: cpu times and percentages are half what I expect fixed #33284: vmstat reporting incorrect CPU idle time Give me an account... I simply can not test this. #34250: watch segfaults fixed, in the previous version #34734: proctop occasionally reports outrageous % idle kernel support is required to fix this #34956: ps formatting problem C library problem, patch and workaround included #35240: procps: /bin/ps must always exist Debian bug: oldps should not be renamed or it should be in /usr/ucb. #35247: procps: ps.bsd should be in /bin Debian bug: oldps should not be renamed or it should be in /usr/ucb. #35520: dpkg-source -x procps_2.0.0-2.dsc failes on wrong patch Debian bug #35756: procps: wrong spacing in vmstat header fixed #34580: procps: 'w' does not handle unix98 ptys properly fixed a long time ago #35137: Zombies not really a bug #24531: procps: incorrect w output with bash pipelines this should be a wishlist item #29970: watch does not obey SIGWINCH. OK, I suppose this is a real bug :-) #19171: 'w' IDLE time not consistent yeah, that sucks #19208: skill uses commandline not process name then again, someone would report a bug if it was the other way (it is now) #21473: procps no longer has colours sick
