On Fri, Jan 07, 2022 at 05:08:16PM +0100, Jan Stary wrote:
> This is how ps(1) differentiates between displaying
> processes that have a terminal and those that have not:
>
> -a Display information about processes
> for all users with controlling terminals.
>
> -x Display information about processes
> without controlling terminals.
>
> Strangely, some processes appear in both listings:
>
> $ ps -a | grep man
> 22867 p6 Ip 0:00.02 man ps
> 82326 p6 I+p 0:00.02 less -T /tmp/man.TkUznrbk0K /tmp/man.qGVXE5xsvJ
> 43736 p7 R+p/3 0:00.00 grep man
>
> $ ps -x | grep man
> 22867 p6 Ip 0:00.02 man ps
> 82326 p6 I+p 0:00.02 less -T /tmp/man.TkUznrbk0K /tmp/man.qGVXE5xsvJ
> 50867 p7 R+p/2 0:00.05 grep man
>
> Is this intended? Am I missing something obvious?
> Or does the wording mean "users with controlling terminals"?
>
> Jan
>
>
The man page should say something like:
-a include processes other than your own, but skip processes
without controlling terminal, unless -x is also specified
-x include processes without controlling terminal.
-Otto
