Top Linux command line

Applicable for STM32MP13x lines, STM32MP15x lines

1 Article purpose[edit]

This article provides the basic information needed to start using the Linux® tool: top[1].

2 Introduction[edit]

The following table provides a brief description of the tool, as well as its availability depending on the software packages:

Yes: this tool is either present (ready to use or to be activated), or can be integrated and activated on the software package.

No: this tool is not present and cannot be integrated, or it is present but cannot be activated on the software package.

Tool STM32MPU Embedded Software distribution STM32MPU Embedded Software distribution for Android™
Warning white.png Warning
STM32MPU Embedded Software distribution for Android™ is no more supported by ST. You can contact our ST partner, Witekio, who can help you to port and maintain it on STM32MP15 platform.
Name Category Purpose Starter Package Developer Package Distribution Package Starter Package Developer Package Distribution Package
top Monitoring tools The top[1] program provides a dynamic real-time view of a running system. It can display system summary information as well as a list of tasks currently being managed by the Linux kernel. The types of system summary information shown and the types, order and size of information displayed for tasks are all user configurable and that configuration can be made persistent across restarts. (Extracted from man page[1]) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

3 Installing the trace and debug tool on your target board[edit]

3.1 Using the STM32MPU Embedded Software Distribution[edit]

top is installed by default and is ready to be used with all STM32MPU Embedded Software Packages.

 which top
/usr/bin/top

It is integrated into the Weston image distribution by using the following meta-st package recipe to enable the procps module: layers/meta-st/meta-st-openstlinux/recipes-st/packagegroups/packagegroup-framework-tools.bb.

RDEPENDS_packagegroup-framework-tools-core = "\
   grep            \
   util-linux      \
   util-linux-lscpu \
   procps          \
   kbd             \
   ...

3.2 Using the STM32MPU Embedded Software distribution for Android™[edit]

top is installed by default and ready to be used with all STM32MPU Embedded Software Packages for Android™.

It comes with the toybox:

 which top | xargs ls -la
/system/bin/top -> toybox

4 Getting started[edit]

  • Displaying individual threads: without this command-line option a summation of all threads in each process is shown
 top -H
top - 16:50:23 up  4:31,  1 user,  load average: 0.38, 0.38, 0.37
Threads: 130 total,   1 running, 129 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
%Cpu(s):  4.3 us, 10.9 sy,  0.0 ni, 84.8 id,  0.0 wa,  0.0 hi,  0.0 si,  0.0 st
MiB Mem :    871.9 total,    673.1 free,    107.7 used,     91.2 buff/cache
MiB Swap:      0.0 total,      0.0 free,      0.0 used.    736.6 avail Mem 

 PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES    SHR S  %CPU  %MEM     TIME+ COMMAND
 895 root      20   0    2652   1608   1220 R  25.0   0.2   0:00.08 top
   1 root      20   0   24164   4808   3104 S   0.0   0.5   0:17.88 systemd
   2 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0   0.0   0:00.03 kthreadd
   3 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 rcu_gp
   4 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 rcu_par_gp
   6 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.01 kworker/0:0H-kblockd
   7 root      20   0       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.04 kworker/u4:0-events_unbound
   8 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 mm_percpu_wq
   9 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0   0.0   0:01.42 ksoftirqd/0
  10 root      20   0       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:03.19 rcu_preempt
  11 root      20   0       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 rcu_sched
  12 root      20   0       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 rcu_bh
  13 root      rt   0       0      0      0 S   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 migration/0
  14 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 cpuhp/0
  15 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 cpuhp/1
  16 root      rt   0       0      0      0 S   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 migration/1
  17 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0   0.0   0:01.64 ksoftirqd/1
  19 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.07 kworker/1:0H-kblockd
  20 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0   0.0   0:00.04 kdevtmpfs
  21 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 netns
  22 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 rcu_tasks_kthre
  24 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 oom_reaper
  25 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 writeback
  26 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 kcompactd0
  27 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 crypto
  28 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 kblockd
  29 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 ata_sff
  30 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 edac-poller
  31 root      rt   0       0      0      0 S   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 watchdogd
  32 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 rpciod
  33 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 kworker/u5:0
  34 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 xprtiod
  35 root      20   0       0      0      0 S   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 kswapd0
  36 root       0 -20       0      0      0 I   0.0   0.0   0:00.00 nfsiod
  • Displaying only given PID:
 top -p<PID>

<PID> can be a given known value, or it could be useful to use the pidof macro:

 top -p`pidof netdata`
top - 16:59:39 up  4:40,  1 user,  load average: 0.46, 0.46, 0.41
Tasks:   1 total,   0 running,   1 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
%Cpu(s):  0.0 us,  2.9 sy,  0.0 ni, 97.1 id,  0.0 wa,  0.0 hi,  0.0 si,  0.0 st
MiB Mem :    871.9 total,    673.2 free,    107.6 used,     91.2 buff/cache
MiB Swap:      0.0 total,      0.0 free,      0.0 used.    736.6 avail Mem 

 PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES    SHR S  %CPU  %MEM     TIME+ COMMAND
 389 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   2:39.63 netdata

and by adding -H option:

 top -p`pidof netdata` -H
top - 16:58:15 up  4:39,  1 user,  load average: 0.62, 0.48, 0.41
Threads:  12 total,   0 running,  12 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
%Cpu(s):  0.3 us,  0.5 sy,  0.0 ni, 99.2 id,  0.0 wa,  0.0 hi,  0.0 si,  0.0 st
MiB Mem :    871.9 total,    673.1 free,    107.6 used,     91.2 buff/cache
MiB Swap:      0.0 total,      0.0 free,      0.0 used.    736.6 avail Mem 

 PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES    SHR S  %CPU  %MEM     TIME+ COMMAND
 407 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.3   1.7   1:06.85 netdata
 409 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.3   1.7   0:46.08 netdata
 389 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:00.23 netdata
 406 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:13.30 netdata
 408 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:05.31 netdata
 411 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:03.51 netdata
 412 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:00.09 netdata
 413 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:00.08 netdata
 414 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:00.92 netdata
 418 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:01.24 netdata
 419 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:21.12 netdata
 425 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:00.00 netdata

Note that several PIDs can be given by using the following syntax:

 top -p<PID1>,<PID2>,<PID3>...
  • Sorting informations

When the top command result is displayed, type "F", then select a filter: please see highlighted part below:

Fields Management for window 1:Def, whose current sort field is %CPU
  Navigate with Up/Dn, Right selects for move then <Enter> or Left commits,
  'd' or <Space> toggles display, 's' sets sort.  Use 'q' or <Esc> to end!

* PID     = Process Id             SUPGRPS = Supp Groups Names   
* USER    = Effective User Name    TGID    = Thread Group Id     
* PR      = Priority               OOMa    = OOMEM Adjustment    
* NI      = Nice Value             OOMs    = OOMEM Score current 
* VIRT    = Virtual Image (KiB)    ENVIRON = Environment vars    
* RES     = Resident Size (KiB)    vMj     = Major Faults delta  
* SHR     = Shared Memory (KiB)    vMn     = Minor Faults delta  
* S       = Process Status         USED    = Res+Swap Size (KiB) 
* %CPU    = CPU Usage              nsIPC   = IPC namespace Inode 
* %MEM    = Memory Usage (RES)     nsMNT   = MNT namespace Inode 
* TIME+   = CPU Time, hundredths   nsNET   = NET namespace Inode 
* COMMAND = Command Name/Line      nsPID   = PID namespace Inode 
  PPID    = Parent Process pid     nsUSER  = USER namespace Inode
  UID     = Effective User Id      nsUTS   = UTS namespace Inode 
  RUID    = Real User Id           LXC     = LXC container name  
  RUSER   = Real User Name         RSan    = RES Anonymous (KiB) 
  SUID    = Saved User Id          RSfd    = RES File-based (KiB)
  SUSER   = Saved User Name        RSlk    = RES Locked (KiB)    
  GID     = Group Id               RSsh    = RES Shared (KiB)    
  GROUP   = Group Name             CGNAME  = Control Group name  
  PGRP    = Process Group Id       NU      = Last Used NUMA node 
  TTY     = Controlling Tty     
  TPGID   = Tty Process Grp Id  
  SID     = Session Id          
  nTH     = Number of Threads   
  P       = Last Used Cpu (SMP) 
  TIME    = CPU Time            
  SWAP    = Swapped Size (KiB)  
  CODE    = Code Size (KiB)     
  DATA    = Data+Stack (KiB)    
  nMaj    = Major Page Faults   
  nMin    = Minor Page Faults   
  nDRT    = Dirty Pages Count   
  WCHAN   = Sleeping in Function
  Flags   = Task Flags <sched.h>
  CGROUPS = Control Groups      
  SUPGIDS = Supp Groups IDs
  • Displaying where threads are sleeping

When the top command result is displayed, type "F", then go to the WCHAN parameter. Type "d" or <space> to toggle the display of this field.

Fields Management for window 1:Def, whose current sort field is %CPU
  Navigate with Up/Dn, Right selects for move then <Enter> or Left commits,
  'd' or <Space> toggles display, 's' sets sort.  Use 'q' or <Esc> to end!

* PID     = Process Id             SUPGRPS = Supp Groups Names   
* USER    = Effective User Name    TGID    = Thread Group Id     
* PR      = Priority               OOMa    = OOMEM Adjustment    
* NI      = Nice Value             OOMs    = OOMEM Score current 
* VIRT    = Virtual Image (KiB)    ENVIRON = Environment vars    
* RES     = Resident Size (KiB)    vMj     = Major Faults delta  
* SHR     = Shared Memory (KiB)    vMn     = Minor Faults delta  
* S       = Process Status         USED    = Res+Swap Size (KiB) 
* %CPU    = CPU Usage              nsIPC   = IPC namespace Inode 
* %MEM    = Memory Usage (RES)     nsMNT   = MNT namespace Inode 
* TIME+   = CPU Time, hundredths   nsNET   = NET namespace Inode 
* COMMAND = Command Name/Line      nsPID   = PID namespace Inode 
  PPID    = Parent Process pid     nsUSER  = USER namespace Inode
  UID     = Effective User Id      nsUTS   = UTS namespace Inode 
  RUID    = Real User Id           LXC     = LXC container name  
  RUSER   = Real User Name         RSan    = RES Anonymous (KiB) 
  SUID    = Saved User Id          RSfd    = RES File-based (KiB)
  SUSER   = Saved User Name        RSlk    = RES Locked (KiB)    
  GID     = Group Id               RSsh    = RES Shared (KiB)    
  GROUP   = Group Name             CGNAME  = Control Group name  
  PGRP    = Process Group Id       NU      = Last Used NUMA node 
  TTY     = Controlling Tty     
  TPGID   = Tty Process Grp Id  
  SID     = Session Id          
  nTH     = Number of Threads   
  P       = Last Used Cpu (SMP) 
  TIME    = CPU Time            
  SWAP    = Swapped Size (KiB)  
  CODE    = Code Size (KiB)     
  DATA    = Data+Stack (KiB)    
  nMaj    = Major Page Faults   
  nMin    = Minor Page Faults   
  nDRT    = Dirty Pages Count   
* WCHAN   = Sleeping in Function
  Flags   = Task Flags <sched.h>
  CGROUPS = Control Groups      
  SUPGIDS = Supp Groups IDs

This option enables the display of wchan.

 top -p `pidof netdata`,`pidof python3`
top - 17:19:15 up  5:00,  1 user,  load average: 0.47, 0.45, 0.45
Tasks:   2 total,   0 running,   2 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
%Cpu(s):  0.3 us,  1.0 sy,  0.0 ni, 98.7 id,  0.0 wa,  0.0 hi,  0.0 si,  0.0 st
MiB Mem :    871.9 total,    672.9 free,    107.8 used,     91.2 buff/cache
MiB Swap:      0.0 total,      0.0 free,      0.0 used.    736.4 avail Mem 

 PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES    SHR S  %CPU  %MEM     TIME+ COMMAND WCHAN
 389 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.7   1.7   2:50.72 netdata sys_pause
 424 root      20   0   43496  14860   5680 S   0.0   1.7   0:33.02 python3 poll_sche+
  • Showing only one iteration of top and putting it in batch mode (useful for putting in a file)
 top -p`pidof netdata` -H -b -n1
top - 17:26:53 up  5:07,  1 user,  load average: 0.46, 0.47, 0.45
Threads:  12 total,   0 running,  12 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
%Cpu(s):  0.0 us,  2.9 sy,  0.0 ni, 97.1 id,  0.0 wa,  0.0 hi,  0.0 si,  0.0 st
MiB Mem :    871.9 total,    672.9 free,    107.8 used,     91.2 buff/cache
MiB Swap:      0.0 total,      0.0 free,      0.0 used.    736.5 avail Mem 

 PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES    SHR S  %CPU  %MEM     TIME+ COMMAND
 389 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:00.23 netdata
 406 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:14.67 netdata
 407 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   1:13.64 netdata
 408 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:05.83 netdata
 409 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:50.85 netdata
 411 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:03.92 netdata
 412 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:00.10 netdata
 413 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:00.09 netdata
 414 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:01.00 netdata
 418 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:01.38 netdata
 419 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:23.24 netdata
 425 root      20   0  131340  15528   2036 S   0.0   1.7   0:00.00 netdata

5 References[edit]