skill

SKILL(1)                      Linux User's Manual                     SKILL(1)



NAME
       skill, snice - send a signal or report process status


SYNOPSIS
       skill [signal to send] [options] process selection criteria
       snice [new priority] [options] process selection criteria


DESCRIPTION
       These tools are probably obsolete and unportable. The command syntax is
       poorly defined. Consider using the killall, pkill, and  pgrep  commands
       instead.

       The  default  signal  for skill is TERM. Use -l or -L to list available
       signals.  Particularly useful signals include  HUP,  INT,  KILL,  STOP,
       CONT,  and  0.   Alternate  signals  may be specified in three ways: -9
       -SIGKILL -KILL.

       The default priority for snice is +4. (snice +4 ...)  Priority  numbers
       range  from  +20 (slowest) to -20 (fastest).  Negative priority numbers
       are restricted to administrative users.


GENERAL OPTIONS
       -f   fast mode          This is not currently useful.
       -i   interactive use    You will be asked to approve each action.
       -v   verbose output     Display information about selected processes.
       -w   warnings enabled   This is not currently useful.
       -n   no action          This only displays the process ID.
       -V   show version       Displays version of program.


PROCESS SELECTION OPTIONS
       Selection criteria can be: terminal, user, pid, command.   The  options
       below  may  be  used  to  ensure  correct interpretation.  Do not blame
       Albert for this interesting interface.

       -t   The next argument is a terminal (tty or pty).
       -u   The next argument is a username.
       -p   The next argument is a process ID number.
       -c   The next argument is a command name.


SIGNALS
       The signals listed below may be available for  use  with  skill.   When
       known, numbers and default behavior are shown.

       Name     Num   Action    Description
       0          0   n/a       exit code indicates if a signal may be sent
       ALRM      14   exit
       HUP        1   exit
       INT        2   exit
       KILL       9   exit      this signal may not be blocked
       PIPE      13   exit
       POLL           exit
       PROF           exit
       TERM      15   exit
       USR1           exit
       USR2           exit
       VTALRM         exit

       STKFLT         exit      may not be implemented
       PWR            ignore    may exit on some systems
       WINCH          ignore
       CHLD           ignore
       URG            ignore
       TSTP           stop      may interact with the shell
       TTIN           stop      may interact with the shell
       TTOU           stop      may interact with the shell
       STOP           stop      this signal may not be blocked
       CONT           restart   continue if stopped, otherwise ignore
       ABRT       6   core
       FPE        8   core
       ILL        4   core
       QUIT       3   core
       SEGV      11   core
       TRAP       5   core
       SYS            core      may not be implemented
       EMT            core      may not be implemented
       BUS            core      core dump may fail
       XCPU           core      core dump may fail
       XFSZ           core      core dump may fail


EXAMPLES
       Command                     Description
       snice seti crack +7         Slow down seti and crack
       skill -KILL -v /dev/pts/*   Kill users on new-style PTY devices
       skill -STOP viro lm davem   Stop 3 users
       snice -17 root bash         Give priority to root's shell


SEE ALSO
       killall(1), pkill(1), kill(1), renice(1), nice(1), kill(2), signal(7)


STANDARDS
       No standards apply.


AUTHOR
       Albert Cahalan  wrote skill and snice in 1999 as a
       replacement for a non-free version, and is the  current  maintainer  of
       the  procps  collection.  Please  send  bug  reports  to         back@lists.sf.net>.



Linux                           March 12, 1999                        SKILL(1)