UNIX System Administration Handbook, Third Edition
by Scott Seebass, Garth Snyder, Evi Nemeth, Trent R. Hein
4.1 COMPONENTS OF A PROCESS
A process consists of an address space and a set of data structures within the kernel. The address space is a set of memory pages1 that the kernel has marked for the process’s use. It contains the code and libraries that the process is executing, the process’s variables, its stacks, and various extra information needed by the kernel while the process is running. Because UNIX supports virtual memory, there is not necessarily a correlation between a page’s location within an address space and its location inside the machine’s physical memory or swap space.
The kernel’s internal data structures record various pieces of information about each process. Some of the more important of these are:
• The process’s address ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access