setproctitle(3) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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SETPROCTITLE(3)         NetBSD Library Functions Manual        SETPROCTITLE(3)


NAME

     setproctitle -- set process title


LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)


SYNOPSIS

     #include <stdlib.h>

     void
     setproctitle(const char *fmt, ...);


DESCRIPTION

     The setproctitle() function sets the invoking process's title.  The
     process title is set to the last component of the program name, followed
     by a colon and the formatted string specified by fmt.  If fmt is NULL,
     the colon and formatted string are omitted.  The length of a process
     title is limited to 2048 bytes.


EXAMPLES

     Set the process title to the program name, with no further information:

           setproctitle(NULL);

     Set the process title to the program name, an informational string, and
     the process id:

           setproctitle("foo! (%d)", getpid());


SEE ALSO

     ps(1), w(1), getprogname(3), printf(3)


HISTORY

     The setproctitle() function first appeared in NetBSD 1.0.


CAVEATS

     It is important never to pass a string with user-supplied data as a for-
     mat without using `%s'.  An attacker can put format specifiers in the
     string to mangle your stack, leading to a possible security hole.  This
     holds true even if you have built the string ``by hand'' using a function
     like snprintf(), as the resulting string may still contain user-supplied
     conversion specifiers for later interpolation by setproctitle().

     Always be sure to use the proper secure idiom:

           setproctitle("%s", string);

NetBSD 4.0                      April 13, 1994                      NetBSD 4.0