NAME¶
fuser - identify processes using files or sockets
SYNOPSIS¶
fuser [
-fuv] [
-a|
-s] [
-4|
-6]
[
-c|
-m|
-n space] [
-k [
-i]
[
-M] [
-w] [
-SIGNAL] ]
name ...
fuser -l
fuser -V
DESCRIPTION¶
fuser displays the PIDs of processes using the specified files or file
systems. In the default display mode, each file name is followed by a letter
denoting the type of access:
- c
- current directory.
- e
- executable being run.
- f
- open file. f is omitted in default display mode.
- F
- open file for writing. F is omitted in default display mode.
- r
- root directory.
- m
- mmap'ed file or shared library.
fuser returns a non-zero return code if none of the specified files is
accessed or in case of a fatal error. If at least one access has been found,
fuser returns zero.
In order to look up processes using TCP and UDP sockets, the corresponding name
space has to be selected with the
-n option. By default
fuser
will look in both IPv6 and IPv4 sockets. To change the default, behavior, use
the
-4 and
-6 options. The socket(s) can be specified by the
local and remote port, and the remote address. All fields are optional, but
commas in front of missing fields must be present:
[lcl_port][,
[rmt_host][,
[rmt_port]]]
Either symbolic or numeric values can be used for IP addresses and port numbers.
fuser outputs only the PIDs to stdout, everything else is sent to stderr.
OPTIONS¶
- -a, --all
- Show all files specified on the command line. By default, only files that
are accessed by at least one process are shown.
- -c
- Same as -m option, used for POSIX compatibility.
- -f
- Silently ignored, used for POSIX compatibility.
- -k, --kill
- Kill processes accessing the file. Unless changed with
-SIGNAL, SIGKILL is sent. An fuser process never
kills itself, but may kill other fuser processes. The effective
user ID of the process executing fuser is set to its real user ID
before attempting to kill.
- -i, --interactive
- Ask the user for confirmation before killing a process. This option is
silently ignored if -k is not present too.
- -l, --list-signals
- List all known signal names.
- -m NAME, --mount NAME
- NAME specifies a file on a mounted file system or a block device
that is mounted. All processes accessing files on that file system are
listed. If a directory file is specified, it is automatically changed to
NAME/. to use any file system that might be mounted on that
directory.
- -M, --ismountpoint
- Request will be fulfilled only if NAME specifies a mountpoint. This
is an invaluable seatbelt which prevents you from killing the machine if
NAME happens to not be a filesystem.
- -w
- Kill only processes which have write access. This option is silently
ignored if -k is not present too.
- -n SPACE, --namespace SPACE
- Select a different name space. The name spaces file (file names,
the default), udp (local UDP ports), and tcp (local TCP
ports) are supported. For ports, either the port number or the symbolic
name can be specified. If there is no ambiguity, the shortcut notation
name /space (e.g. 80/tcp) can be
used.
- -s, --silent
- Silent operation. -u and -v are ignored in this mode.
-a must not be used with -s.
- -SIGNAL
- Use the specified signal instead of SIGKILL when killing processes.
Signals can be specified either by name (e.g. -HUP)orby
number (e.g. -1). This option is silently ignored if the -k
option is not used.
- -u, --user
- Append the user name of the process owner to each PID.
- -v, --verbose
-
Verbose mode. Processes are shown in a ps-like style. The fields PID,
USER and COMMAND are similar to ps. ACCESS shows how the process
accesses the file. Verbose mode will also show when a particular file is
being access as a mount point, knfs export or swap file. In this case
kernel is shown instead of the PID.
- -V, --version
- Display version information.
- -4, --ipv4
- Search only for IPv4 sockets. This option must not be used with the
-6 option and only has an effect with the tcp and udp
namespaces.
- -6, --ipv6
- Search only for IPv6 sockets. This option must not be used with the
-4 option and only has an effect with the tcp and udp
namespaces.
- -
- Reset all options and set the signal back to SIGKILL.
FILES¶
- /proc
- location of the proc file system
EXAMPLES¶
- fuser -km /home
- kills all processes accessing the file system /home in any way.
- if fuser -s /dev/ttyS1; then :; else something;
fi
- invokes something if no other process is using /dev/ttyS1.
- fuser telnet/tcp
- shows all processes at the (local) TELNET port.
RESTRICTIONS¶
Processes accessing the same file or file system several times in the same way
are only shown once.
If the same object is specified several times on the command line, some of those
entries may be ignored.
fuser may only be able to gather partial information unless run with
privileges. As a consequence, files opened by processes belonging to other
users may not be listed and executables may be classified as mapped only.
Installing
fuser SUID root will avoid problems associated with partial
information, but may be undesirable for security and privacy reasons.
udp and
tcp name spaces, and UNIX domain sockets can't be searched
with kernels older than 1.3.78.
Accesses by the kernel are only shown with the
-v option.
The
-k option only works on processes. If the user is the kernel,
fuser will print an advice, but take no action beyond that.
BUGS¶
fuser -m /dev/sgX will show (or kill with the -k flag) all processes, even if
you don't have that device configured. There may be other devices it does this
for too.
fuser cannot report on any processes that it doesn't have permission to
look at the file descriptor table for. The most common time this problem
occurs is when looking for TCP or UDP sockets when running
fuser as a
non-root user. In this case
fuser will report no access
The mount -m option will match any file within the save device as the specified
file, use the -M option as well if you mean to specify only the mount point.
SEE ALSO¶
kill(1),
killall(1),
lsof(8),
pkill(1),
ps(1),
kill(2).