ACCT(2) Linux Programmer's Manual ACCT(2)
NAME
acct(2,5) - switch(1,n) process accounting on or off
SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>
int acct(2,5)(const char *filename);
DESCRIPTION
When called with the name of an existing file(1,n) as argument, accounting
is turned on, records for each terminating process are appended to
filename as it terminates. An argument of NULL causes accounting to be
turned off.
RETURN VALUE
On success, zero is returned. On error(8,n), -1 is returned, and errno is
set(7,n,1 builtins) appropriately.
ERRORS
EACCES Write permission is denied for the specified file(1,n), or search
permission is denied for one of the directories in(1,8) the path pre-
fix of filename (see also path_resolution(2)), or filename is
not a regular file.
EFAULT filename points outside your accessible address space.
EIO Error writing to the file(1,n) filename.
EISDIR filename is a directory.
ELOOP Too many symbolic links were encountered in(1,8) resolving filename.
ENAMETOOLONG
filename was too long.
ENFILE The system limit on the total number of open(2,3,n) files has been
reached.
ENOENT The specified filename does not exist.
ENOMEM Out of memory.
ENOSYS BSD process accounting has not been enabled when the operating
system kernel was compiled. The kernel configuration parameter
controlling this feature is CONFIG_BSD_PROCESS_ACCT.
ENOTDIR
A component used as a directory in(1,8) filename is not in(1,8) fact a
directory.
EPERM The calling process has insufficient privilege to enable process
accounting. On Linux the CAP_SYS_PACCT capability is required.
EROFS filename refers to a file(1,n) on a read-only file(1,n) system.
EUSERS There are no more free file(1,n) structures or we ran out of memory.
CONFORMING TO
SVr4 (but not POSIX). SVr4 documents an EBUSY error(8,n) condition, but no
EISDIR or ENOSYS. Also AIX and HPUX document EBUSY (attempt is made to
enable accounting when it is already enabled), as does Solaris (attempt
is made to enable accounting using the same file(1,n) that is currently
being used).
NOTES
No accounting is produced for programs running when a crash occurs. In
particular, nonterminating processes are never accounted for.
Linux 2.6.7 2004-06-23 ACCT(2)