I know that everyone will have different, depending on what they are using the machine for, but I seem to have 220 - 240, with only firefox, kmail,conky and a vbox open, and the usual panels…
Is this normal?
If not how should I go about pruning the bloat?
I am not expert at “ps” command, could someone suggest the best ps command combo to show you what they are please?
ps aux
I usually never have above 130 processes running/sleeping combined. But the amount of processes does not only depend on foreground programs you run but also on background services, which most of them just sleep and listen.
WOW! quick reply there mate… (impressed)
When I was first trying with openSuse I would bash away at the install option till something worked, I guess there is a lot of stuff here that I never use…
My poor old machine takes nearly as long to boot as Windozzze
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND
root 1 0.0 0.0 1008 76 ? Ss 11:15 0:01 init [5]
root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [kthreadd]
root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [migration/0]
root 4 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [ksoftirqd/0]
root 5 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:01 [events/0]
root 6 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [khelper]
root 7 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [kintegrityd/0]
root 8 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [kblockd/0]
root 9 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [kacpid]
root 10 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [kacpi_notify]
root 11 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [cqueue]
root 12 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [kseriod]
root 13 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:19 [kondemand/0]
root 14 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:15 0:01 [pdflush]
root 15 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 11:15 0:00 [pdflush]
root 16 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:04 [kswapd0]
root 17 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [aio/0]
root 18 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [kpsmoused]
root 54 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [ata/0]
root 55 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [ata_aux]
root 57 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [scsi_eh_0]
root 58 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [scsi_eh_1]
root 59 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [scsi_eh_2]
root 60 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [scsi_eh_3]
root 63 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [scsi_eh_4]
root 64 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [scsi_eh_5]
root 196 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [ksuspend_usbd]
root 197 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [khubd]
root 545 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:01 [kjournald]
root 626 0.0 0.0 2760 344 ? S<s 11:15 0:00 /sbin/udevd --daemon
root 1214 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:02 [zd1211rw]
root 1220 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:03 [zd1211rw]
root 1267 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [hd-audio0]
root 1352 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [kauditd]
root 1373 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:00 [kstriped]
root 1421 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 11:15 0:01 [kjournald]
root 1443 0.8 0.1 5256 3536 ? Ss 11:15 3:01 /sbin/mount.ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /windo
root 1889 0.0 0.0 1776 468 ? Ss 11:15 0:00 /sbin/acpid
root 1897 0.0 0.0 1912 384 ? Ss 11:15 0:00 /sbin/klogd -c 1 -x
root 1901 0.0 0.0 2596 808 ? Ss 11:15 0:00 /sbin/syslog-ng
101 1913 0.0 0.0 2844 1044 ? Ss 11:15 0:00 /bin/dbus-daemon --system
103 1958 0.0 0.1 6708 2356 ? Ss 11:15 0:00 /usr/sbin/hald --daemon=yes
root 1967 0.0 0.0 16556 1904 ? Ssl 11:15 0:00 /usr/sbin/console-kit-daemon
root 2032 0.0 0.0 3528 1104 ? S 11:15 0:00 hald-runner
root 2093 0.0 0.0 3648 976 ? S 11:15 0:00 hald-addon-input: Listening on /dev/
root 2238 0.0 0.0 3664 1132 ? S 11:15 0:00 /usr/lib/hal/hald-addon-cpufreq
103 2244 0.0 0.0 3376 860 ? S 11:15 0:00 hald-addon-acpi: listening on acpid
root 2457 0.0 0.0 3896 500 ? Ss 11:16 0:00 /usr/bin/kdm
root 2487 7.0 3.8 129964 74196 tty7 RLs+ 11:16 24:59 /usr/bin/Xorg -br -nolisten tcp :0 v
root 2507 0.0 0.0 2316 696 ? Ss 11:16 0:00 /sbin/rpcbind
root 2738 0.0 0.0 4704 1232 ? S 11:16 0:00 -:0
root 2786 0.0 0.0 10708 512 ? S<sl 11:16 0:00 /sbin/auditd -s disable
root 2792 0.0 0.0 10144 572 ? S<sl 11:16 0:00 /sbin/audispd
avahi 2811 0.0 0.0 2956 1108 ? Ss 11:16 0:00 avahi-daemon: running [linux-oqc9.lo
stephen 2814 0.0 0.0 4452 1260 ? Ss 11:16 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/startkde3
root 2971 0.0 0.0 7400 1780 ? Ss 11:16 0:00 /usr/sbin/cupsd
stephen 3229 0.0 0.0 4016 360 ? Ss 11:16 0:00 /usr/bin/gpg-agent --sh --daemon --w
root 3328 0.0 0.0 1628 116 ? S 11:16 0:00 start_kdeinit --new-startup +kcminit
stephen 3329 0.0 0.2 27492 5588 ? Ss 11:16 0:00 kdeinit Running...
stephen 3332 0.0 0.1 26812 2528 ? S 11:16 0:00 dcopserver [kdeinit] --nosid
stephen 3335 0.0 0.3 29660 6024 ? S 11:16 0:00 klauncher [kdeinit] --new-startup
stephen 3343 0.0 0.6 36908 12212 ? S 11:16 0:03 kded [kdeinit] --new-startup
root 3731 0.0 0.0 142840 1120 ? Ssl 11:16 0:01 /usr/sbin/nscd
root 3741 0.0 0.0 2148 136 ? Ss 11:16 0:00 /sbin/dhcpcd --netconfig -L -E -HHH
root 3811 0.0 0.0 7044 1508 ? Ss 11:16 0:00 /usr/lib/postfix/master
postfix 3840 0.0 0.0 6888 1620 ? S 11:16 0:00 qmgr -l -t fifo -u
root 3847 0.0 0.0 2320 520 ? Ss 11:16 0:00 /usr/sbin/cron
root 3889 0.0 0.0 3544 648 ? S 11:16 0:00 /usr/sbin/smartd
root 3915 0.0 0.0 5584 820 ? Ss 11:16 0:09 /usr/sbin/smpppd
root 3947 0.0 0.0 6572 540 ? Ss 11:16 0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd -o PidFile=/var/run/s
root 4122 0.0 0.0 2268 564 tty1 Ss+ 11:16 0:00 /sbin/mingetty --noclear tty1
root 4124 0.0 0.0 2268 564 tty2 Ss+ 11:16 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty2
root 4126 0.0 0.0 2268 548 tty3 Ss+ 11:16 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty3
root 4128 0.0 0.0 2268 548 tty4 Ss+ 11:16 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty4
root 4131 0.0 0.0 2268 548 tty5 Ss+ 11:16 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty5
root 4132 0.0 0.0 2268 548 tty6 Ss+ 11:16 0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty6
stephen 4168 0.0 0.0 1764 308 ? S 11:16 0:00 kwrapper ksmserver
stephen 4170 0.0 0.3 29720 7464 ? S 11:16 0:00 ksmserver [kdeinit]
stephen 4171 4.4 0.6 37940 12328 ? SL 11:16 15:52 compiz --sm-client-id 10147cfdde6000
stephen 4172 0.0 0.6 23856 11780 ? Ss 11:16 0:10 /usr/bin/kde-window-decorator
stephen 4177 0.0 0.0 3560 524 ? S 11:16 0:00 dbus-launch --autolaunch 8ec067da2d9
stephen 4179 0.0 0.8 40712 17180 ? S 11:16 0:09 kdesktop [kdeinit]
stephen 4180 0.0 0.0 3040 824 ? Ss 11:16 0:00 /bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid
stephen 4182 0.1 0.9 42584 18800 ? S 11:16 0:27 kicker [kdeinit]
stephen 4185 0.0 0.5 31860 10972 ? S 11:16 0:00 kio_uiserver [kdeinit]
stephen 4195 0.0 0.1 17184 3352 ? S 11:16 0:01 xfce4-settings-helper --display :0.0
stephen 4196 0.0 0.1 18144 3840 ? S 11:16 0:00 Thunar --sm-client-id 10147cfdde6000
stephen 4198 0.0 0.0 3856 1268 ? S 11:16 0:00 /usr/lib/xfconfd
stephen 4209 0.0 0.4 47844 9248 ? S 11:16 0:01 knotify [kdeinit]
stephen 4215 0.0 0.0 93424 1876 ? Ssl 11:16 0:00 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --start
stephen 4218 0.0 0.7 64448 15120 ? Sl 11:16 0:00 policykit-kde
stephen 4222 0.0 0.5 33300 10700 ? S 11:16 0:00 kmix [kdeinit] -autostart
stephen 4224 0.0 0.4 30896 8528 ? S 11:16 0:04 klipper [kdeinit]
stephen 4225 0.0 0.7 66520 14728 ? S 11:16 0:00 kupdateapplet
stephen 4257 0.0 0.0 4188 1196 ? S 11:20 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/firefox
stephen 4262 28.4 8.4 560944 163392 ? RLl 11:20 99:41 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox
stephen 4265 0.0 0.1 6220 2468 ? S 11:20 0:00 /usr/lib/GConf/2/gconfd-2
stephen 4308 0.1 1.2 94288 24292 ? Sl 11:20 0:23 kmail -caption KMail -icon kmail -mi
stephen 4313 0.0 0.3 51840 6176 ? S 11:20 0:00 kio_imap4 [kdeinit] imaps /tmp/ksock
stephen 5021 0.0 0.7 66508 14616 ? Sl 12:04 0:04 /usr/lib/virtualbox/VirtualBox
stephen 5039 0.0 0.0 10668 1788 ? S 12:04 0:03 /usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxXPCOMIPCD
stephen 5052 0.0 0.1 16648 2436 ? Sl 12:04 0:11 /usr/lib/virtualbox/VBoxSVC --automa
stephen 5077 18.1 55.6 1146840 1068928 ? RLl 12:04 55:30 /usr/lib/virtualbox/VirtualBox --com
stephen 10704 0.0 0.1 33804 3808 ? Ss 15:16 0:00 kdeinit4: kdeinit4 Running...
stephen 10705 0.0 0.4 36232 9348 ? S 15:16 0:00 klauncher
stephen 10708 0.0 0.6 65340 13380 ? S 15:16 0:00 kded4
stephen 10751 1.3 1.6 162012 30828 ? Sl 15:16 1:31 /usr/bin/knotify4
postfix 11064 0.0 0.0 6844 1728 ? S 16:15 0:00 pickup -l -t fifo -u
stephen 11363 0.0 0.2 29952 4896 ? S 16:26 0:00 kio_file [kdeinit] file /tmp/ksocket
stephen 12091 0.2 0.2 8068 4268 ? S 17:00 0:01 conky
postfix 12121 0.0 0.1 7220 2004 ? S 17:06 0:00 smtp -t unix -u
postfix 12125 0.0 0.1 7220 2008 ? S 17:06 0:00 smtp -t unix -u
postfix 12129 0.0 0.1 7220 2008 ? S 17:06 0:00 smtp -t unix -u
stephen 12133 0.0 0.2 50440 5612 ? S 17:08 0:00 kio_pop3 [kdeinit] pop3 /tmp/ksocket
postfix 12138 0.0 0.0 6872 1772 ? S 17:08 0:00 bounce -z -n defer -t unix -u
stephen 12155 2.7 0.7 35240 13740 ? R 17:09 0:00 konsole [kdeinit]
stephen 12156 0.3 0.1 5192 2220 pts/1 Ss 17:10 0:00 /bin/bash
stephen 12165 0.0 0.0 2704 872 pts/1 R+ 17:10 0:00 ps aux
stephen@linux-oqc9:~>
I have around 142 processes running with Hedgewars and Firefox running at one time, and it surprises me that my number is higher, much higher, than what a system running that bloated Windows Vista would be running. (Vista runs around 60-70 processes on average). Still, I experience no serious slowdowns, in fact, hardly any slowdowns on my machine at all. If your system is fast, I’d say there’s no need to worry. Don’t look at the amount of processes and RAM they take up: just see if your system is slow or not. If it’s not slow, I would not worry.
And most of these processes are background processes, which are important for the functioning of your system. Some are less important, so you can disable them.
If you still want to disable some processes, maybe someone else more technical than me can help. I’m not an expert at determining which processes are important and which are not.
Hope this helps you.
Hi
top and procinfo may give you better information as well. I have around
162 with at least 155+ sleeping…
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.2 RC 1 (i586) Kernel 2.6.31.3-1-desktop
up 15:27, 2 users, load average: 0.10, 0.13, 0.10
ASUS eeePC 1000HE ATOM N280 1.66GHz | GPU Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME
do you need avahi?
do you need auditing?
do you need postfix mailer?
do you need RPC?
do you need CUPS?
do you need SSH?
do you need console-kit?
If not, disable them in YaST -> System -> Services
Thanks Cat, I look forward to some of the techies telling me what I don’t need…
do you need avahi? dunno!
do you need auditing? dunno!
do you need postfix mailer? dunno!
do you need RPC? dunno!
do you need CUPS? print sever isn’t it?, Probably not, I have no printer, ATM!
do you need SSH? err no don’t think so, for accessing other machines?
do you need console-kit? dunno!
I think I must go to google and find out what they do!
If I find I really do not need should I uninstall them or just disable?
Judging from how you answered, I don’t think you need any of those so you can disable them. If you may need them, you can always enable them 
Just disabling will do
wakou wrote:
> Thanks Cat, I look forward to some of the techies telling me what I
> don’t need…
one of the joys of Linux is that the operating system is built with
the idea that there will be one or more users and at least one
administrator…
today, many machines have one user, and that user is the only
administrator…so, you are the administrator (aka ‘techie’) for YOUR
machine…the best way to ensure your machine STAYS your machine is to
decide for yourself what you need and what you don’t need…
see, if you just ask me, and i’m not good guy, and i tell you to
delete this, and set that, and install sshd, and give you information
on how to set it up…well, then i can enter your machine from my
desktop, and it will be MINE!
and, i could then use it, via remote, to do all sorts of bad stuff…
like, i could post here as “wakou” and use bad language, be rude, etc
etc and get you banned…
NOPE! don’t just depend on other to tell you what you need and what
you don’t need…(like Window’s users do–and, then wonder why they
become part of million machine botnets)
–
palladium
Palladium, couldn’t you have saved yourself the bother and simply wrote RTFM?
As I said in a post above:
So I started…
Avahi is a free Zeroconf implementation, including a system for multicast DNS/DNS-SD service discovery. It allows programs to publish and discover services and hosts running on a local network with no specific configuration. For example, you can plug into a network and Avahi instantly finds printers to print to, files to look at and people to talk to, as well as advertising the network services running on your machine. It is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
Avahi is an implementation of the Apple Zeroconf specification, and implements mDNS, DNS-SD and RFC 3927/IPv4LL. Other implementations include Apple's free Bonjour framework (which mDNS responder is licenced under the Apache Licence).
Avahi provides a set of language bindings (Python, Mono, etc.) and ships with most Linux and *BSD distributions. Because of its modularized architecture, Avahi is already integrated in major desktop components like GNOME's Virtual File System and the KDE input/output architecture.
The Avahi project was originally started due to Apple's Zeroconf implementation, Bonjour, being licenced with the non GPL compatible Apple Public Source License. Since then, Bonjour has been relicensed under the less controversial Apache License. However, Avahi had already become the de-facto standard implementation of mDNS/DNS-SD on free operating systems such as Linux.
Avahi's Performance is recognized as being quite similar to Apple's Bonjour, sometimes exceeding it, although it's reliability managing large numbers of requests simultaneously is a bit lacking.[1]
Stuart Cheshire (creator of Zeroconf) has stated that Apple works with the Avahi team and is impressed with their progress; so much so that Avahi might "overtake Apple's implementation".[2]
To a technical person, this might be clear as spring water, to me it is in Greek. That is why I ask questions on this forum, because I want to learn.
Err no, actually, asking if I need a certain process and what it is for is different to allowing you to set up my machine for me
And one of the PITA’s of linux is suprerior and sniffy attitudes of some people
Perhaps you misread or misunderstood palladium. What he said was true and gave good advise. It was not intended, at least I didn’t see it that way, as superior, sniffy, snooty, arrogant, or having any attitude except concern.
I think it’s great your using Google to research this. I wish more took that kind of initiative.
> Palladium, couldn’t you have saved yourself the bother and simply
> wrote RTFM?
no, because that is not at all what i said…and certainly not what i
meant (i don’t usually use such foul language anyway–not even in nntp
venues where four letter words ARE allowed do you see me often using
the gutter language of your acronym)…anyway, there is lot more to
what i said…one part of it was supposed to give you REASON to want
to learn what you need to know (the security of your machine)…
i mean, it is GOOD to know which services you need and which you do
not need…its not my fault that one size (of Linux) does not fit
all…i can not, and no one can decide what you need, but you…
its also not my fault that it will require you (and all others) a
little investment in time to get the most out of Linux…
and, if it was my goal here to save time i’d not spend it trying to
explain the why behind other folk’s “RTxM”
> And one of the PITA’s of linux is suprerior and sniffy attitudes of
> some people
i’m sorry my post caused you feel inferior to me…
it should have had the effect of encouraging you to spend the time
needed to understand what you read…
for my inability to clearly express that, i’m sorry…
on the other hand i do feel you have uncanny ability to read between
the lines and make up whatever intent you wish, to some unclear to me
ends…
i assure you that i do not feel superior to you, nor anyone
else…more learned than some perhaps, but then i’ve had more time to
do so than most here…
–
palladium
> Perhaps you misread or misunderstood palladium.
yes perhaps…thank you for noticing…
–
palladium
My view:
If you’re not a car mechanic, don’t touch your car’s engine.
If your system runs OK, don’t touch it. Next thing you’ll want tot configure probably needs one of the services/processes you disabled and here we have the next series of posts about things not working on an ‘assumed default’ system.
Don’t, repeat DO NOT, compare Vista’s processes to linux services/processes. For example: on Vista one of the processes is ‘ntoskernel.exe’ (cannot check the exact name); on a linux system a ‘ps -ea | grep kernel’ will give no results.
Yes, you can tune linux kernel and system. And yes, some tuning can seriously destablize your system.
If it’s about gaining speed: adding RAM will give you more on a lot of occasions. Or booting from SSD. But please, do yourself a favor and leave your system intact.
Thank you Palladium, and my apologies! Perhaps it was Daylight saving time or the shock of of being up before 09:00 on a Sunday morning for the first time this year that made me so grumpy, maybe I should leave it until my third cup of tea before tackling the day’s correspondence!
As for RTFM I doubt anyone is going to be offended, if you have maiden aunts or children of a nervous disposition in the room it means “Read the Friendly Manual” :)
So off I go into the hinterland of geekipedia to investigate what each of my 240 processes do and whether I need them, and if not whether to disable or uninstall, and then how to disable or uninstall. Allowing two hours for each, and working full-time I reckon I should finish around Christmas, by which time, with any luck 11.2, will be out in the wild, and I can start the whole thing again.
> So off I go into the hinterland of geekipedia to investigate what each
> of my 240 processes do and whether I need them, and if not whether to
> disable or uninstall, and then how to disable or uninstall. Allowing two
> hours for each, and working full-time I reckon I should finish around
> Christmas, by which time, with any luck 11.2, will be out in the wild,
> and I can start the whole thing again.
> 
now, THAT is an attitude i can get along with…willing to dig in…i
just love to help folks willing to dig and help themselves…
TRY this (i do not know if it will work in 11.2 or not, i use 10.3 and
your YaST may have ‘improved’ this path into oblivion):
YaST > System > System Services (Run Level)
that should open up with a dialog which shows ALL system services, by
run level (if you select ‘expert mode’)…NOTE stop right here and go
learn about run level if you don’t already, see:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runlevel>
but, i’d suggest you not get too fancy yet, and just leave it in
“Simple Mode”…
at the bottom of the big right pane is a smaller pane which tells
(VERY briefly) what that service does…
READ the instructions in the left panel!!
as long as you do not click “Enable” of “Disable” you may click each
individual service and get an idea of what it does in the small pane
at the bottom…
here are some ‘rules’ i’d suggest (ignore them at YOUR peril!):
-
if you don’t know what a service does, or do not understand what
happens if you turn it off (or on): do NOT click disable (or enable) -
if you think you know (for sure) that you don’t need it, then click
disable AFTER you have written down on a piece of paper what is was
before you clicked it (do NOT write this “emergency WAY BACK plan” in
a file which you might not be able to get to if your machine STOPS
working, or won’t boot next time) -
if you think MAYBE you can live without a particular service, but
are not sure from the BRIEF explanation given in YaST, then do some
googling…see if you can figure it out, if you do, then see #2, above… -
if you google and still don’t know, ASK, then see #2
-
never change more than one a day…that is, make the change and
LIVE with it a while, make sure your machine will boot again…but do
NOT make a change, boot, congratulate yourself for being so smart and
then repeat several times…INSTEAD live with each change a
while–did ANYthing stop working exactly like it did before??? if so,
use your emergency WAY BACK plan (remember, rebooting and
re-installing is for windoz-kiddies, and you are on your way past all
that M$-ring-in-the-nose stuff)
if you send me a chocolate cake i will take the time to tell you what
is not running on mine—HOWEVER, if you set yours exactly like mine
then you might not be able to do what you need to do!! (and, i might
TRICK you into telling me something that lets a hacker in!!)
remember, every time you use the root password you ARE the system
administrator, and you can kill the system…
enjoy the freedom–have fun.
(but, let me echo something someone else said: if you are just trying
to get a little faster machine, then FORGET all of this…it is
likely you will KILL or cripple your system and may take DAYS to sort
it out…think how much faster your machine will have to be to make
up all that time!!)
–
palladium
TY Palladium! Very good advice here I’m sure, and a new hobby!
Thanks again:)
> a new hobby!
Linux is a hobby which will save you money AND provide you more
security…
have fun! -welcome-
–
palladium