RENICED(1) reniced RENICED(1)
NAME
reniced - renice running processes based on regular expressions
SYNOPSIS
reniced [-h] [-v] [-o format] [configfile]
OVERVIEW
reniced takes a list of regular expressions, looks for processes (and threads) matching them and renices the processes to given values.
reniced can also change io priorities.
DESCRIPTION
On start, reniced reads a configuration file. It consists of nice values and regular expressions.
It then scans the process table using the ps(1) command. Whenever a process name from the CMD column matches a regular expression, that
process is reniced to the given value. If a process matches multiple regular expressions, all rule matches are executed in order and the
last match wins.
When run as root, reniced will scan all processes ("`ps H -e`"). When run as a user, renice only scans the user's processes ("`ps H
--user`").
Switches
-h This prints the version number, a short help text and exits without doing anything.
-v This activates verbose mode. Error messages, some statistics and all renice actions are printed to stdout.
-o format
Set the ps(1) output format to filter on. The default format is "comm". See the -o parameter in the ps(1) manpage for details.
configfile
This reads the regular expressions from an alternate configfile.
The default location of the configfile is "/etc/reniced.conf" if reniced is run as root, "~/.reniced" otherwise.
Configuration file format
The configuration file is composed of single lines. Empty lines and lines starting with a # are ignored.
Every line must consist of a command followed by a whitespace and a Perl regular expression.
The regular expression is matched against the ps(1) output. For every matched process the command is executed.
A command generally takes the form of a character followed by a number. Multiple commands can be given simultaneously with no spaces
inbetween. Sometimes the number is optional.
Command characters
n Sets the nice value of a process. Must be followed by a number, usually within the range of -20 to 19.
For backwards compatibility a n at the beginning of the command can be left out (if the command starts with a number it is treated as
a nice value).
r Sets the io priority to the realtime scheduling class. The optional number is treated as class data (typically 0-7, lower being
higher priority).
b Sets the io priority to the best-effort scheduling class. The optional number is treated as class data (typically 0-7, lower being
higher priority).
i Sets the io priority to the idle scheduling class. No number needs to be given as the idle scheduling class ignores the class data
value.
o Sets the OOM killer adjustment in "/proc/$PID/oom_adj" to the given number.
Examples
"5 ^bash"
gives currently running bash shells a nice value of 5
"b2 ^tar"
sets currently running tar-processes to io priority best-effort within class 2
"i torrent"
sets currently running torrent-like applications to io priority idle
"n-10r4 seti"
gives currently running seti-processes a nice value of -10 and sets them to realtime io priority in class 4
MODULES NEEDED
use BSD::Resource;
This module can be obtained from <http://www.cpan.org>.
PROGRAMS NEEDED
ps
ionice
ionice is only needed if you want to change io priority. It can be obtained from <http://rlove.org/schedutils/>.
You also need a suitable kernel and scheduler, e.g. Linux 2.6 with CFQ.
BUGS
reniced can run without the BSD::Resource module. In this case, the PRIO_PROCESS is set to 0. This works on Linux 2.6.11 i686 but it
could break on other systems. Installing BSD::Resource is the safer way.
Be careful using realtime priorities, don't starve other tasks.
Please report bugs to <mitch@cgarbs.de>.
AUTHOR
reniced was written by Christian Garbs <mitch@cgarbs.de>.
COPYRIGHT
reniced is Copyright (C) 2005,2007 by Christian Garbs. It is licensed under the GNU GPL.
AVAILABILITY
Look for updates at <http://www.cgarbs.de/stuff.en.html>.
SEE ALSO
ionice(1), renice(1), ps(1)
1.19 2010-09-19 RENICED(1)