1SA(8)                       System Manager's Manual                      SA(8)
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NAME

6       sa -  summarizes accounting information
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SYNOPSIS

9       sa     [ -a | --list-all-names ]
10              [ -b | --sort-sys-user-div-calls ]
11              [ -c | --percentages ] [ -f | --not-interactive ]
12              [ -i | --dont-read-summary-file ]
13              [ -j | --print-seconds ] [ -k | --sort-cpu-avmem ]
14              [ -K | --sort-ksec ] [ -l | --separate-times ]
15              [ -m | --user-summary ] [ -n | --sort-num-calls ]
16              [ -r | --reverse-sort ] [ -s | --merge ]
17              [ -t | --print-ratio ] [ -u | --print-users ]
18              [ -v num | --threshold num ] [ --sort-real-time ]
19              [ --debug ] [ -V | --version ] [ -h | --help ]
20              [ --other-usracct-file filename ]
21              [ --other-savacct-file filename ]
22              [ [ --other-acct-file ] filename ]
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DESCRIPTION

25       sa summarizes information about previously executed commands as
26       recorded in the acct file.  In addition, it condenses this data into a
27       summary file named savacct which contains the number of times the
28       command was called and the system resources used.  The information can
29       also be summarized on a per-user basis; sa will save this information
30       into a file named usracct.
31
32       If no arguments are specified, sa will print information about all of
33       the commands in the acct file.
34
35       If called with a file name as the last argument, sa will use that file
36       instead of the system's default acct file.
37
38       By default, sa will sort the output by sum of user and system time.  If
39       command names have unprintable characters, or are only called once, sa
40       will sort them into a group called `***other'.  If more than one
41       sorting option is specified, the list will be sorted by the one
42       specified last on the command line.
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44       The output fields are labeled as follows:
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46       cpu
47               sum of system and user time in cpu seconds
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49       re
50               "real time" in cpu seconds
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52       k
53               cpu-time averaged core usage, in 1k units
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55       k*sec
56               cpu storage integral (kilo-core seconds)
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58       u
59               user cpu time in cpu seconds
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61       s
62               system time in cpu seconds
63
64       An asterisk will appear after the name of commands that forked but
65       didn't call exec.
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67       GNU sa takes care to implement a number of features not found in other
68       versions.  For example, most versions of sa don't pay attention to
69       flags like `--print-seconds' and `--sort-num-calls' when printing out
70       commands when combined with the `--user-summary' or `--print-users'
71       flags.  GNU sa pays attention to these flags if they are applicable.
72       Also, MIPS' sa stores the average memory use as a short rather than a
73       double, resulting in some round-off errors.  GNU sa uses double the
74       whole way through.
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OPTIONS

77       -a, --list-all-names
78              Force sa not to sort those command names with unprintable
79              characters and those used only once into the ***other group.
80       -b, --sort-sys-user-div-calls
81              Sort the output by the sum of user and system time divided by
82              the number of calls.
83       -c, --percentages
84              Print percentages of total time for the command's user, system,
85              and real time values.
86       -f, --not-interactive
87              When using the `--threshold' option, assume that all answers to
88              interactive queries will be affirmative.
89       -i, --dont-read-summary-file
90              Don't read the information in the system's default savacct file.
91       -j, --print-seconds
92              Instead of printing total minutes for each category, print
93              seconds per call.
94       -k, --sort-cpu-avmem
95              Sort the output by cpu time average memory usage.
96       -K, --sort-ksec
97              Print and sort the output by the cpu-storage integral.
98       -l, --separate-times
99              Print separate columns for system and user time; usually the two
100              are added together and listed as `cpu'.
101       -m, --user-summary
102              Print the number of processes and number of CPU minutes on a
103              per-user basis.
104       -n, --sort-num-calls
105              Sort the output by the number of calls.  This is the default
106              sorting method.
107       -r, --reverse-sort
108              Sort output items in reverse order.
109       -s, --merge
110              Merge the summarized accounting data into the summary files
111              savacct and usracct.
112       -t, --print-ratio
113              For each entry, print the ratio of real time to the sum of
114              system and user times.  If the sum of system and user times is
115              too small to report--the sum is zero--`*ignore*' will appear in
116              this field.
117       -u, --print-users
118              For each command in the accounting file, print the userid and
119              command name.  After printing all entries, quit.  *Note*: this
120              flag supersedes all others.
121       -v num --threshold num
122              Print commands which were executed num times or fewer and await
123              a reply from the terminal.  If the response begins with `y', add
124              the command to the `**junk**' group.
125       --separate-forks
126              It really doesn't make any sense to me that the stock version of
127              sa separates statistics for a particular executable depending on
128              whether or not that command forked.  Therefore, GNU sa lumps
129              this information together unless this option is specified.
130       --debug
131              Print verbose internal information.
132       -V, --version
133              Print the version number of sa.
134       -h, --help
135              Prints the usage string and default locations of system files to
136              standard output and exits.
137       --sort-real-time
138              Sort the output by the "real time" field.
139       --other-usracct-file filename
140              Write summaries by user ID to filename rather than the system's
141              default usracct file.
142       --other-savacct-file filename
143              Write summaries by command name to filename rather than the
144              system's default SAVACCT file.
145       --other-file filename
146              Read from the file filename instead of the system's default ACCT
147              file.

FILES

149       acct   The raw system wide process accounting file. See acct(5) (or
150              pacct(5)) for further details.
151       savacct
152              A summary of system process accounting sorted by command.
153       usracct
154              A summary of system process accounting sorted by user ID.

BUGS

156       There is not yet a wide experience base for comparing the output of GNU
157       sa with versions of sa in many other systems.  The problem is that the
158       data files grow big in a short time and therefore require a lot of disk
159       space.

AUTHOR

161       The GNU accounting utilities were written by Noel Cragg
162       <noel@gnu.ai.mit.edu>. The man page was adapted from the accounting
163       texinfo page by Susan Kleinmann <sgk@sgk.tiac.net>.

SEE ALSO

165       acct(5), ac(8)
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169                                1997 August 19                           SA(8)
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