RHBA-2015:0444 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated procps-ng packages that fix several bugs and add various enhancements
are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.

Description

The procps-ng packages contain a set of system utilities that provide system
information including ps, free, skill, pkill, pgrep, snice, tload, top, uptime,
vmstat, w, watch, and pwdx.

The procps-ng packages have been upgraded to upstream version 3.3.10, which
provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version,
including:

• Previously, there was no way how to find the amount of free memory for

starting new applications without swapping. This amount had to be estimated
based on the values reported as Cached and Shmem. Such estimates were often
incorrect, and this practice also reinforced a misconception that memory
available in the page cache can be considered free. An updated Linux kernel now
automatically estimates the amount of available memory that can be made free if
needed. The updated procps-ng packages reflect this change and the estimation of
available memory is now reported as a new 'available' field in the 'top' and
'free' utilities. This update also provides layout enhancements to both tools.
(BZ#1070736)

• Previously, the 'w' tool did not display the FROM field by default like it is

in the previous major versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and could only be
enabled with the '-f' or the '-i' switch. With this update, the FROM field is
printed by default and the '-f' switch disables the field. (BZ#1078310)

• Previously, the ps tool only displayed maximum 19 characters of user names

even when the column width was set to a higher number. With this update, the
procps-ng tools support up to 32 characters per user name. (BZ#1112734)

• This update removes an unnecessary explicit dependency of the procps-ng

packages on the systemd-libs package. This change allows to move the required
systemd libraries to different subpackages without breaking the dependencies.
(BZ#1113206)

• This update introduces manual pages for the openproc(), readproc() and

readproctab() functions in the procps-ng-devel subpackage and also provides
fixes for the pgrep(1) and top(1) manual pages. (BZ#1119260, BZ#1119263)

• Under certain circumstances, the pgrep tool returned the 0 exit code even when

there was a syntax error in the command. This bug has been fixed and pgrep now
returns correct exit codes. (BZ#1116309)

• This update introduces the new 'q' option (alternatively '-q' or

'--quick-pid') to the 'ps' command. This option processes only /proc/PID/
directories that are relevant to a user-specified list of PIDs in the order
defined by the user. Therefore, it is a speed-optimized enhancement of the 'p'
option. However, '-q' is mutually exclusive with other filtering options, so it
is recommended in cases where users only need to specify a list of PIDs to be
printed without further processing. (BZ#1060715)

Users of procps-ng are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix
these bugs and add these enhancements.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

For details on how to apply this update, refer to:

https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 7.7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 7.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 7.5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 7.4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 7.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 7.7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 7.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 7.4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 7.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 7 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 7.7 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 7.6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 7.5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 7.4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 7.3 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 7 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 7.7 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 7.6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 7.5 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 7.4 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 7.3 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - TUS 7.7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - TUS 7.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - TUS 7.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems) 7 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Update Services for SAP Solutions 7.7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Update Services for SAP Solutions 7.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Update Services for SAP Solutions 7.4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Update Services for SAP Solutions 7.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support for IBM Power, big endian 7 ppc64

Fixes

• BZ - 1112734 - Allow longer usernames to display in ps output
• BZ - 1113206 - Remove explicit dependency on systemd-libs package

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)