A(PYTHON)                          CUSTOMIZE                         A(PYTHON)



NNAAMMEE
       A Python module to customize the process title -

       The  sseettpprrooccttiittllee  module allows a process to change its title (as dis‐
       played by system tools such as ppss and ttoopp).

       Changing the title is mostly useful in multi-process systems, for exam‐
       ple  when a master process is forked: changing the children's title al‐
       lows to identify the task each process is busy with.  The technique  is
       used by _P_o_s_t_g_r_e_S_Q_L and the _O_p_e_n_S_S_H _S_e_r_v_e_r for example.

       The  procedure is hardly portable across different systems.  PostgreSQL
       provides a good _m_u_l_t_i_-_p_l_a_t_f_o_r_m _i_m_p_l_e_m_e_n_t_a_t_i_o_n:  this module is a Python
       wrapper around PostgreSQL code.

       • _H_o_m_e_p_a_g_e

       • _D_o_w_n_l_o_a_d

       • _B_u_g _t_r_a_c_k_e_r

IINNSSTTAALLLLAATTIIOONN
       sseettpprrooccttiittllee  is  a C extension: in order to build it you will need a C
       compiler and the Python development support (the ppyytthhoonn--ddeevv package  in
       most  Linux  distributions).  No  further external dependencies are re‐
       quired.

       You can use ppiipp to install the module:

          pip install setproctitle

       You can use ppiipp --tt or vviirrttuuaalleennvv for local installations, ssuuddoo ppiipp  for
       a  system-wide  one... the usual stuff. Read _p_i_p or _v_i_r_t_u_a_l_e_n_v docs for
       all the details.

   PPyytthhoonn 33 ssuuppppoorrtt
       As of version 1.1 the module works with Python  3.  Just  use  ppiipp/vviirr‐‐
       ttuuaalleennvv for Python 3.

       In  order  to  build  from the source package and test the module under
       Python 3, the MMaakkeeffiillee contains some helper targets.

UUSSAAGGEE
       The sseettpprrooccttiittllee module exports the following functions:

       sseettpprrooccttiittllee((ttiittllee))
              Set _t_i_t_l_e as the title for the current process.

       ggeettpprrooccttiittllee(())
              Return the current process title.

   EEnnvviirroonnmmeenntt vvaarriiaabblleess
       A few environment variables can be used to customize the module  behav‐
       ior:

       SSPPTT__NNOOEENNVV
              Avoid clobbering //pprroocc//PPIIDD//eennvviirroonn.

              On  many  platforms,  setting the process title will clobber the
              eennvviirroonn memory area.  ooss..eennvviirroonn  will  work  as  expected  from
              within   the  Python  process,  but  the  content  of  the  file
              //pprroocc//PPIIDD//eennvviirroonn will be overwritten.  If you require this file
              not  to be broken you can set the SSPPTT__NNOOEENNVV environment variable
              to any non-empty value: in this case the maximum length for  the
              title will be limited to the length of the command line.

       SSPPTT__DDEEBBUUGG
              Print debug information on ssttddeerrrr.

              If the module doesn't work as expected you can set this variable
              to a non-empty value to generate information useful  for  debug‐
              ging.  Note that the most useful information is printed when the
              module is imported, not when the functions are called.

MMOODDUULLEE SSTTAATTUUSS
       The module can be currently compiled and effectively used on  the  fol‐
       lowing platforms:

       • GNU/Linux

       • BSD

       • MacOS X

       • Windows

       Note that on Windows there is no way to change the process string: what
       the module does is to create a _N_a_m_e_d _O_b_j_e_c_t whose value can be read us‐
       ing a tool such as _P_r_o_c_e_s_s _E_x_p_l_o_r_e_r (contribution of a more useful tool
       to be used together with sseettpprrooccttiittllee would be well accepted).

       The module can probably work on HP-UX, but I haven't found any to  test
       with.  It is unlikely that it can work on Solaris instead.

OOTTHHEERR KKNNOOWWNN IIMMPPLLEEMMEENNTTAATTIIOONNSS AANNDD DDIISSCCUUSSSSIIOONNSS
       • _p_r_o_c_n_a_m_e: a module exposing the same functionality, but less portable
         and not well packaged.

       • _I_s_s_u_e _5_6_7_2: where the introduction of  such  functionality  into  the
         stdlib is being discussed.

AAUUTTHHOORR
       Daniele Varrazzo



TO                                  MODULE                           A(PYTHON)
