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SETPROCTITLE(3)		    Library Functions Manual	       SETPROCTITLE(3)

NAME
       setproctitle setproctitle_fast -- set process title

SYNOPSIS
       #include	<unistd.h>

       void
       setproctitle(const char *fmt, ...);

       void
       setproctitle_fast(const char *fmt, ...);

DESCRIPTION
       The  setproctitle() library routine sets	the process title that appears
       on the ps(1) command.  The setproctitle_fast() variant is optimized for
       high frequency updates, but may make the	ps(1) command slightly	slower
       by not updating the kernel cache	of the program arguments.

       The  title is set from the executable's name, followed by the result of
       a printf(3) style expansion of the arguments as specified  by  the  fmt
       argument.   If  the  fmt	argument begins	with a "-" character, the exe-
       cutable's name is skipped.

       If fmt is NULL, the process title is restored.

EXAMPLES
       To set the title	on a daemon to indicate	its activity:

	     setproctitle("talking to %s", inet_ntoa(addr));

SEE ALSO
       ps(1), w(1), setprogname(3), kvm(3), kvm_getargv(3), printf(3)

STANDARDS
       The setproctitle() function is implicitly non-standard.	Other  methods
       of causing the ps(1) command line to change, including copying over the
       argv[0]	string	are also implicitly non-portable.  It is preferable to
       use an operating	system supplied	setproctitle() if present.

       Unfortunately, it is possible that there	are other calling  conventions
       to  other  versions of setproctitle(), although none have been found by
       the author as yet.  This	is believed to be the predominant convention.

       It is thought that the implementation is	compatible with	other systems,
       including NetBSD	and BSD/OS.

HISTORY
       The  setproctitle()  function  first  appeared  in  FreeBSD  2.2.   The
       setproctitle_fast() function first appeared in FreeBSD 12.  Other oper-
       ating systems have similar functions.

AUTHORS
       Peter  Wemm  <peter@FreeBSD.org>	stole the idea from the	Sendmail 8.7.3
       source code by Eric Allman <eric@sendmail.org>.

BUGS
       Never pass a string with	user-supplied data as a	format	without	 using
       `%s'.   An  attacker  can put format specifiers in the string to	mangle
       your stack, leading to a	possible security hole.	 This holds true  even
       if  the	string	was built using	a function like	snprintf(), as the re-
       sulting string may still	contain	 user-supplied	conversion  specifiers
       for later interpolation by setproctitle().

       Always use the proper secure idiom:

	     setproctitle("%s",	string);

FreeBSD	13.2		       November	28, 2022	       SETPROCTITLE(3)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO | STANDARDS | HISTORY | AUTHORS | BUGS

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