Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!sgi!daveh@xtenk.sgi.com
From: daveh@xtenk.sgi.com (David A Higgen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: /debug (again and again and again...)
Message-ID: <42340@sgi.sgi.com>
Date: 29 Sep 89 18:31:06 GMT
Sender: daveh@xtenk.sgi.com
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA
Lines: 30

> #/debug (or, in RISC/os, /proc) is *NOT* your swap space.  It's a special
> #type of virtual filesystem which presents a view of your running processes
> #accessible through the file namespace.  If it's not mounted, you just can't
> #use programs (like some debuggers and other tools) that access processes by
> #opening them like files.  This has *nothing* to do with your swap space.
> #ROGER B.A. KLORESE      MIPS Computer Systems, Inc.      

> But the burning question is...
> If your disk is partitioned so that /debug gets, say, 53meg, does that mean
> that you only have 53meg of swap space, maximum?

> || Tom Stockfisch, UCSD Chemistry	tps@chem.ucsd.edu

Tom, didn't you READ the article you were appending to?
Repeat After Me, 500 times: "/debug is NOT my swap space".

/debug is simply an informational window to processes' virtual space, used
by debuggers (eg dbx). IT NEITHER CONSUMES NOR PROVIDES PHYSICAL RESOURCES.

/debug is not "on" a disk partition. Your swap space IS on one or more
disk partitions reserved for the purpose, normally partition 1 on the
root disk. Other partitions can be added to the swap space; try
'man swap' for details.

Incidentally, is anyone from Tech Pubs here reading this group? I would
guess that the continuing confusion on the /debug issue is a strong
suggestion that documentation on the point needs to be improved...


				Dave Higgen