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Date:      Mon, 29 Apr 2002 10:07:37 +1000
From:      Edwin Groothuis <edwin@mavetju.org>
To:        "Daniel B. Hemmerich" <dan@spot.org>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: login.conf variables
Message-ID:  <20020429100737.C56548@k7.mavetju.org>
In-Reply-To: <3094.65.164.19.137.1020034986.squirrel@webmail.spot.org>; from dan@spot.org on Sun, Apr 28, 2002 at 07:03:06PM -0400
References:  <3094.65.164.19.137.1020034986.squirrel@webmail.spot.org>

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On Sun, Apr 28, 2002 at 07:03:06PM -0400, Daniel B. Hemmerich wrote:
> I have tried to find out exactly what CPUTIME really is. I was hoping
> someone could provide a somewhat decent explanation of this for me.

The amount of seconds a process is on the CPU.

In a multitasking environment, the kernel decides which program is
running. Running means, not waiting for something else.

If you run `top', you'll see that a lot of processes are in the
"select" or "poll" state (waiting for input from devices, like the
network, your modem, mouse or keyboard). Now and then one is in
"running" state (for example your MTA when it is receiving mail or
seti@home, but that one is nearly always running since it uses the
idle CPU time).

As long as a process is in running state, it is consuming CPU time.

Edwin
-- 
Edwin Groothuis      |           Personal website: http://www.MavEtJu.org
edwin@mavetju.org    |        Interested in MUDs? Visit Fatal Dimensions:
bash$ :(){ :|:&};:   |                    http://www.FatalDimensions.org/

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