tracking what files are being accessed by a process?

Matt Price moptop99-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
Mon Jan 7 17:20:40 UTC 2013


On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 10:41 AM, Christopher Browne <cbbrowne-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 10:24 AM, Matt Price <moptop99-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> hey folks,
>>
>> I'm having a trouble with skype on my ubuntu 12.10 laptop -- it
>> monopolizes the disk with very heavy reads, and my system grinds to a
>> halt.
>>
>> I'd like to at least check to see what it's reading, before I give up
>> and stop using it; is there a simple way to do this?  thanks,
>> Matt
>
> The usual tools used for this are lsof and fuser, which have somewhat
> different user
> interfaces for determining processes associated with files.
>
> fuser is in the package "psmisc"
>
> lsof is in the package "lsof"
>
> Alternatively, you can figure quite a bit out from what's found in /proc
>
> Here's the file listing for the instance of firefox that I have running:
>
> cbbrowne at cbbrowne /proc/30090/fd> ps auxww | grep firefox/firefox
> cbbrowne 30090 15.6  7.0 809344 278864 pts/1   SNl  10:32   1:12
> /home/cbbrowne/firefox/firefox
> cbbrowne 30614  0.0  0.0   6304   604 pts/1    S+   10:39   0:00 grep
> firefox/firefox
> cbbrowne at cbbrowne /proc/30090/fd> cd
> cbbrowne at cbbrowne ~> ps auxww | grep firefox/firefox
> cbbrowne 30090 15.4  7.0 809408 279064 pts/1   SNl  10:32   1:12
> /home/cbbrowne/firefox/firefox
> cbbrowne 30632  0.0  0.0   6304   604 pts/1    S+   10:39   0:00 grep
> firefox/firefox
> cbbrowne at cbbrowne ~> cd /proc/30090/fd
> cbbrowne at cbbrowne /proc/30090/fd> ls -l
> total 0
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 0 -> /dev/pts/1
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 1 -> /dev/pts/1
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 10 -> socket:[1531164]
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 11 -> socket:[1531165]
> lr-x------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 12 -> pipe:[1531166]
> l-wx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 13 -> pipe:[1531166]
> lr-x------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 14 -> pipe:[1531167]
> l-wx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 15 -> pipe:[1531167]
> lr-x------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 16 -> pipe:[1531168]
> l-wx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 17 -> pipe:[1531168]
> lr-x------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 18 -> pipe:[1531170]
> l-wx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 19 -> pipe:[1531170]
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:38 2 -> /dev/pts/1
> lr-x------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 20 -> /dev/urandom
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 21 -> socket:[1531172]
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 22 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/extensions.sqlite
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 23 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/extensions.sqlite-journal
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 24 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/cert8.db
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 25 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/key3.db
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 26 ->
> /var/tmp/etilqs_r87bGbR5JW7sitk (deleted)
> l-wx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 27 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/ybookmarks-ziVeAjt3larYtjvyW6yDsg at public.gmane.org
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 28 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/cookies.sqlite
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 29 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/cookies.sqlite-wal
> lr-x------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 3 -> pipe:[1532043]
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 30 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/cookies.sqlite-shm
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 31 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/cookies.sqlite
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 32 -> socket:[1531191]
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 33 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/permissions.sqlite
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 34 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/places.sqlite
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 35 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/places.sqlite-wal
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 36 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/places.sqlite-shm
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 37 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/webappsstore.sqlite
> lr-x------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 38 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/places.sqlite
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 39 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/places.sqlite-wal
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 4 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/addons.sqlite
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 40 -> socket:[1542023]
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:40 41 -> socket:[1543198]
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 42 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/ybookmarks.sqlite
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 43 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/downloads.sqlite
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 44 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/readItLater.sqlite
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 45 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/content-prefs.sqlite
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 47 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/Cache/_CACHE_MAP_
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 48 -> socket:[1532317]
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 49 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/_CACHE_CLEAN_
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 5 -> socket:[1531161]
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 50 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/Cache/_CACHE_001_
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 51 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/Cache/_CACHE_002_
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 52 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/Cache/_CACHE_003_
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 53 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/signons.sqlite
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 54 -> socket:[1531454]
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 59 -> socket:[1538271]
> lr-x------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 6 -> pipe:[1531162]
> l-wx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 7 -> pipe:[1531162]
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 73 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/addons.sqlite-journal
> l-wx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 8 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/.parentlock
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 9 -> anon_inode:[eventpoll]
> lrwx------ 1 cbbrowne cbbrowne 64 Jan  7 10:39 96 ->
> /home/cbbrowne/.mozilla/firefox/cwjqkq94.default/formhistory.sqlite
>
> Do similar for skype, and you should get some more or less interesting
> information.
> --

huh, that does seem intresting.  In particular, skype seems to be
going through all the files in my .mozilla/firefox profile, espeially
the zotero storage directory, which is rather large.  hmm. I don't
really like that at all!  not sure though what  I can do to stop it,
or why it would ever happen in the first place!
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