ACCT(F)                              UNIX System V



     Name
          acct - format of per-process accounting file


     Description
          Files produced as a result of calling acct(S)  have  records
          in the form defined by <sys/acct.h>.

          In ac_flag, the AFORK flag is turned on by each fork(S)  and
          turned  off  by  an exec(S).  The ac_comm field is inherited
          from the parent process and is reset by any exec.  Each time
          the  system  charges  the process with a clock tick, it also
          adds the current process size to ac_mem computed as follows:

               (data  size)  +  (text  size)  /  (number  of   in-core
               processes using text)

          The  value  of  ac_mem/ac_stime  can   be   viewed   as   an
          approximation  to  the  mean  process  size,  as modified by
          text-sharing.


     See Also
          acctcom(ADM), acct(S)


     Notes
          The ac_mem value for  a  short-lived  command  gives  little
          information  about  the  actual size of the command, because
          ac_mem may be incremented while a different  command  (e.g.,
          the shell) is being executed by the process.


     Standards Conformance
          acct is conformant with:
          AT&T SVID Issue 2, Select Code 307-127;
          and The X/Open Portability Guide II of January 1987.


     (printed 2/15/90)                                    ACCT(F)