Bug#588249: libproc-processtable-perl: length of fname field in ProcessTable is insufficient

[J G Miller]

Package: libproc-processtable-perl
Version: 0.45-1
Severity: normal

Whilst setting up mon (monitoring system) with the ps.monitor script
which uses Proc::ProcessTable to get a list of the processes on the
system, I discovered that processes with very long names are being
truncated, thus causing a false alert in mon.

Debugging the relevant part of the ps.monitor script --

  use Proc::ProcessTable;

  my $process_table = new Proc::ProcessTable('cache_ttys' => 0 );

  foreach $process ( @{$process_table->table} )
  {
   printf ("Examining       ->%s<-\n",               $process->cmndline);
   printf ("+++ Checking if ->%s<- is required\n\n", $process->fname);
  }

reveals that process name in fname is truncated at 15 characters

   Examining       ->transmission-daemon<-
   +++ Checking if ->transmission-da<- is required

Thus it is evident that the width of fname should be increased
from 16 to 24 if possible.

Obviously in its current form, checking of process names greater
than 15 characters will lead to false alarms in mon, and problems
in other packages which use this functionality.


-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: armel (armv5tel)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.32-5-kirkwood
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages libproc-processtable-perl depends on:
ii  libc6                         2.11.2-2   Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib
ii  libgcc1                       1:4.4.4-6  GCC support library
ii  perl                          5.10.1-13  Larry Wall's Practical Extraction
ii  perl-base [perlapi-5.10.0]    5.10.1-13  minimal Perl system

libproc-processtable-perl recommends no packages.

libproc-processtable-perl suggests no packages.

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