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Process names and Process IDs (PIDs)?

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The Question is:

 
I usually cannot show or stop a process by specifying the process name. I
 normally need to used the /id qualifier. The length of the process name
 doesn't seem to matter. I've tried padding the name, putting it in quotes,
 changing the case, to no avail. He
re's an example:
 
<TPARIS> show proc /id=20800235
 
 2-NOV-2000 08:57:23.38   User: SYSTEM           Process ID:   20800235
                          Node: TPARIS           Process name: "CPQSTDEQUIP_MIB"
 
Terminal:
User Identifier:    [SYSTEM]
Base priority:      3
Default file spec:  Not available
Number of Kthreads: 1
 
Devices allocated:  BG38:
                    BG48:
<TPARIS> stop CPQSTDEQUIP_MIB
%SYSTEM-W-NONEXPR, nonexistent process
<TPARIS> show proc CPQSTDEQUIP_MIB
%SYSTEM-W-NONEXPR, nonexistent process
<TPARIS>
 
This seems to occur on VAX and Alpha and several VMS versions but I'm currently
 having the problem on Alpha V7.2-1.
 
 


The Answer is :

    OpenVMS Process names can only be used to refer to processes within the
    same UIC group. If the target process is in a different UIC group, you
    must use the PID to identify the process. The reason, is that process
    names are only unique within the group. In this example, HIBER is a
    program that calls SYS$HIBER:
 
 
    $ run/detached/uic=[500,1]/process=HIBER hiber
    $ run/detached/uic=[501,1]/process=HIBER hiber
    $ run/detached/uic=[502,1]/process=HIBER hiber
    $ run/detached/uic=[503,1]/process=HIBER hiber
 
    $ show sys
    ...
    2020034F HIBER           HIB      6        6   0 00:00:00.00        25    32
    20200350 HIBER           HIB      6        6   0 00:00:00.00        25    32
    20200351 HIBER           HIB      6        6   0 00:00:00.01        25    32
    20200352 HIBER           HIB      6        6   0 00:00:00.00        25    32
 
    All processes are called "HIBER", so if I said "$ STOP HIBER" which one
    would I mean?
 
    Note that this has always been the case, and it is clearly documented:
 
    $ HELP STOP Parameter
    STOP
 
      Parameter
 
 
 
        process-name
 
           Requires that the process be in your group.
 
           Specifies the name of the process to be deleted. The process name
           can have from 1 to 15 alphanumeric characters. If the process-
           name includes spaces or lowercase letters, enclose the name in
           quotation marks (" ")  to preserve the correct spelling.
 
           The specified process must have the same group number in its
           user identification code (UIC) as the current process; you cannot
           use the process-name parameter to stop a process outside of your
           group. To stop a process outside of your group, you must use the
           qualifier /IDENTIFICATION=pid.
 
           The process name is incompatible with the /IDENTIFICATION
           qualifier; if you use the /IDENTIFICATION qualifier, the
           process name is ignored. If you include neither the process-
           name parameter nor the /IDENTIFICATION qualifier with the
           STOP command, the image executing in the current process is
           terminated.
 
 

answer written or last revised on ( 5-NOV-2000 )

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