man(1) Manual page archive


     SNAP(4)                                                   SNAP(4)

     NAME
          snap, snapfs - create and mount process snapshots

     SYNOPSIS
          snap [ -o file ] pid...

          snapfs [ -a ] [ -m mtpt ] [ -s service ] file...

     DESCRIPTION
          Snap and snapfs allow one to save and restore (static) pro-
          cess images, usually for debugging on a different machine or
          at a different time.

          Snap writes a snapshot (see snap(6)) of the named processes
          to file (default standard output).  If pid is a text string
          rather than a process id, snap will save all processes with
          that name that are owned by the current user.  Both memory
          and text images are saved.

          Snapfs is a file server that recreates the /proc directories
          for the processes in the snapshot.  By default, it mounts
          the new directories into /proc before the current entries.
          The -m option can be used to specify an alternate mount-
          point, while -a will cause it to mount the new directories
          after the current entries.  The -s option causes it to serve
          requests via /srv/service.

     EXAMPLE
          Suppose page has hung viewing Postscript on your terminal,
          but the author is gone for the rest of the month and you
          want to make sure the process is still around for debugging
          on his return.  You can save the errant processes with

               snap -o page.snap `{psu | awk '$NF ~ /page|gs/ {print $2}'}

          When the author returns, he can add the process images to
          his name space by running

               snapfs page.snap

          and then use a conventional debugger to debug them.

     SOURCE
          /sys/src/cmd/snap

     SEE ALSO
          acid(1), db(1), proc(3), snap(6)

     BUGS
          The snapshots take up about as much disk space as the

     SNAP(4)                                                   SNAP(4)

          processes they contain did memory.  Compressing them when
          not in use is recommended, as is storing them on a rewrit-
          able disk.

          Pid as a non-numeric string is unimplemented; it has to be a
          number.