pg_top Version 3.6.1 Mark Wong and a cast of ... a few If you do not want to read this entire file, then at least read the section at the end entitled "KNOWN PROBLEMS". If you are having any problems getting pg_top to work, please read the file "FAQ" *before* contacting me. Thank you. pg_top is 'top' for PostgreSQL. It is derived from Unix Top. Similar to top, pg_top allows you to monitor PostgreSQL processes. It also allows you to: * View currently running SQL statement of a process. * View query plan of a currently running SELECT statement. * View locks held by a process. * View user table statistics. * View user index statistics. CAVEAT: version 3 of pg_top has internal commands that kill and renice processes. Although I have taken steps to insure that pg_top makes appropriate checks with these commands, I cannot guarantee that these internal commands are totally secure. IF YOU INSTALL pg_top SET-USER-ID TO ROOT, YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK! I realize that some operating systems will require pg_top to run setuid root, and I will do everything I can to make sure that pg_top is a secure setuid program. To compile and install "pg_top", read the file "INSTALL" and follow the directions and advice contained therein. If you make any kind of change to "pg_top" that you feel would be beneficial to others who use this program, or if you find and fix a bug, please send me the change. Be sure to read the FAQ enclosed with the distrubution. It contains answers to the most commonly asked questions about the configuration, installation, and operation of pg_top. AVAILABILITY Project home page: http://ptop.projects.postgresql.org/ If you have mercurial, you can download the source code from SourceForge: hg clone http://ptop.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/hgwebdir.cgi/pg_top KNOWN PROBLEMS: Gnu CC (This section left in because it's probably still valid.) Compiling via Gnu CC continued to be the source of most of the questions I receive. By far the most common mistake made by those attempting to compile top with Gnu CC is out of date include files. When the operating system is upgraded, the include files that are part of the gcc package MUST also be updated. Gcc maintains its own include files. Even a minor OS upgrade can involve changes to some of the kernel's internal data structures, which are defined in include files in "sys". pg_top is very sensitive to these changes. If you are compiling with gcc and experience any sort of strange problems, please make sure the include files you are using are up to date BEFORE sending me a bug report. Look in the gcc source distribution for the shell script "fixincludes". MacOS X (Selena is working on this.) Since I don't have full time root access to a MacOS X system I cannot provide effective support for the platform. MacOS X uses Mach, and it is very difficult to extract accurate system and process information from the system. It takes a lot of trial and error, along with root access. I have included the most up-to-date version of the macosx module in the distribution, but I do not claim that it works. If you want to try to use it, you can configure with "./configure --with-module=macosx". GRATITUDE Selena Deckelmann & Gabrielle Roth, and the beer & free wi-fi at County Cork pub in Portland, OR, USA. LICENSE pg_top is distributed free of charge under the same terms as the BSD license. For an official statement, please refer to the file "LICENSE" which should be included with the source distribution. AUTHOR Mark Wong