Odi's astoundingly incomplete notes

PID file in bash

To write the PID of a background process to file:

/usr/bin/program &
echo $! > program.pid

To later check if the process is still running:

PID=$(cat program.pid)
if [ -e /proc/${PID} -a /proc/${PID}/exe -ef /usr/bin/program ]; then
echo \"Still running\"
fi

posted on 2006-04-21 21:30 UTC in Code | 2 comments | permalink

Spectacular! I used this to ensure my rsync script only runs one rsync at a time.

rsync -avpogtH --links --copy-unsafe-links user@remotehost:/remote/directory/ /Local/HD/ >> $logfile.& echo $! > program.pid
waitpid=cat program.pid
wait $waitpid

...and repeat

thanks!

Pol

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