On Tue, Feb 04, 2014 at 02:31:51PM +0000, Laurent Wandrebeck wrote: > > Fred Smith <fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us> a écrit : > > > > > Um, it appears in the process list as "ImageDecoder". I don't know how > > one would determine that it's java or not. > > > > Can you give me a hint? > > Try pstree ? pstree shows nothing by that name. here's some output from top (with ppid and thread id added): 23040 fredex 20 0 2424m 1.2g 41m S 0.3 16.3 1:13.71 1 fredex ImageDecoder #1 23123 fredex 20 0 2424m 1.2g 41m S 0.3 16.3 1:12.82 1 fredex ImageDecoder #2 23189 fredex 20 0 2424m 1.2g 41m S 0.3 16.3 1:13.47 1 fredex ImageDecoder #3 23190 fredex 20 0 2424m 1.2g 41m S 0.3 16.3 1:12.73 1 fredex ImageDecoder #4 23191 fredex 20 0 2424m 1.2g 41m S 0.3 16.3 1:14.02 1 fredex ImageDecoder #5 it appears to be a child of init, since PPID is 1 (the column just to the left of "fredex".) given that "ImageDecoder #1" is process 23040, doing "ps -eLf | grep 23040" reveals: fredex 23011 1 23040 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:01:13 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox It appears to be some kind of firefox alias, though I don't understand that relationship... further: $ ps -eLf | grep firefox fredex 1152 1001 1152 0 1 09:47 pts/3 00:00:00 grep firefox fredex 23011 1 23011 7 40 Feb03 ? 00:59:47 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23014 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:10 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23015 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:34 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23016 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:03:06 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23017 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:00 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23018 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:00 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23019 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:01 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23020 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:01 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23021 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:01 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23022 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:01 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23023 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:01 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23024 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:01 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23025 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:23 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23027 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:00 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23028 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:00 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23029 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:00 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23030 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:00 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23033 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:23 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23035 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:00 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23036 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:00 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23040 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:01:14 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox fredex 23011 1 23054 0 40 Feb03 ? 00:00:00 /home/fredex/myfiles/programs/firefox-19/firefox/firefox where the 2nd column is the PID, the 3rd is the PPID and the 4th is "LWP", which I take to also be the same as "thread ID." so, Firefox has spawned a ton of child threads, and some of them appear in top as "Image Decoder #x". I dunno WHY they have a strange name, but at least I now know where they came from. I find it somewhat odd that I've never seen them before (I just upgraded to a new motherboard and 6-core CPU, from previously having had a 2-core CPU) and suddenly I see them in top. I've spent a fair amount of time, over the years, staring at top output, but don't recall ever seeing those there before. And yes, it's the same centos installation, I just put a new MB into the system and fired it up. So, I guess this is solved as far as I feel like taking it. Thanks to all (both) of you who offered advice. Fred -- ---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us ----------------------------- But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ------------------------------- Romans 5:8 (niv) ------------------------------