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 SA(8)                                                                 SA(8)
                               1997 August 19



 NAME
      sa -  summarizes accounting information

 SYNOPSIS
      sa   [ -a | --list-all-names ]
           [ -b | --sort-sys-user-div-calls ]
           [ -c | --percentages ] [ -d | --sort-avio ]
           [ -D | --sort-tio ] [ -f | --not-interactive ]
           [ -i | --dont-read-summary-file ]
           [ -j | --print-seconds ] [ -k | --sort-cpu-avmem ]
           [ -K | --sort-ksec ] [ -l | --separate-times ]
           [ -m | --user-summary ] [ -n | --sort-num-calls ]
           [ -p | --show-paging ] [ -P | --show-paging-avg ]
           [ -r | --reverse-sort ] [ -s | --merge ]
           [ -t | --print-ratio ] [ -u | --print-users ]
           [ -v num | --threshold num ] [ --sort-real-time ]
           [ --debug ] [ -V | --version ] [ -h | --help ]
           [ --other-usracct-file filename ] [ --ahz hz ]
           [ --other-savacct-file filename ]
           [ [ --other-acct-file ] filename ]

 DESCRIPTION
      sa summarizes information about previously executed commands as
      recorded in the acct file.  In addition, it condenses this data into a
      summary file named savacct which contains the number of times the
      command was called and the system resources used.  The information can
      also be summarized on a per-user basis; sa will save this information
      into a file named usracct. If no arguments are specified, sa will
      print information about all of the commands in the acct file. If
      called with a file name as the last argument, sa will use that file
      instead of the system's default acct file.  By default, sa will sort
      the output by sum of user and system time. If command names have
      unprintable characters, or are only called once, sa will sort them
      into a group called `***other'.  If more than one sorting option is
      specified, the list will be sorted by the one specified last on the
      command line.  The output fields are labeled as follows:

      cpu   sum of system and user time in cpu seconds

      re    "real time" in cpu seconds

      k     cpu-time averaged core usage, in 1k units

      avio  average number of I/O operations per execution

      tio   total number of I/O operations

      k*sec
            cpu storage integral (kilo-core seconds)





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 SA(8)                                                                 SA(8)
                               1997 August 19



      u     user cpu time in cpu seconds

      s     system time in cpu seconds Note that these column titles do not
           appear in the first row of the table, but after each numeric
           entry (as units of measurement) in every row.  For example, you
           might see `79.29re', meaning 79.29 cpu seconds of "real time".
           An asterisk will appear after the name of commands that forked
           but didn't call exec. GNU sa takes care to implement a number of
           features not found in other versions.  For example, most versions
           of sa don't pay attention to flags like `--print-seconds' and
           `--sort-num-calls' when printing out commands when combined with
           the `--user-summary' or `--print-users' flags.  GNU sa pays
           attention to these flags if they are applicable.  Also, MIPS' sa
           stores the average memory use as a short rather than a double,
           resulting in some round-off errors.  GNU sa uses double the whole
           way through.

 OPTIONS
      The availability of these program options depends on your operating
      system.  In specific, the members that appear in the struct acct of
      your system's process accounting header file (usually acct.h )
      determine which flags will be present.  For example, if your system's
      struct acct doesn't have the `ac_mem' field, the installed version of
      sa will not support the `--sort-cpu-avmem', `--sort-ksec', `-k', or
      `-K' options.  In short, all of these flags may not be available on
      your machine.

      -a, --list-all-names
           Force sa not to sort those command names with unprintable
           characters and those used only once into the ***other group.
      -b, --sort-sys-user-div-calls
           Sort the output by the sum of user and system time divided by the
           number of calls.
      -c, --percentages
           Print percentages of total time for the command's user, system,
           and real time values.
      -d, --sort-avio
           Sort the output by the average number of disk I/O operations.
      -D, --sort-tio
           Print and sort the output by the total number of disk I/O
           operations.
      -f, --not-interactive
           When using the `--threshold' option, assume that all answers to
           interactive queries will be affirmative.
      -i, --dont-read-summary-file
           Don't read the information in the system's default savacct file.
      -j, --print-seconds
           Instead of printing total minutes for each category, print
           seconds per call.
      -k, --sort-cpu-avmem
           Sort the output by cpu time average memory usage.



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 SA(8)                                                                 SA(8)
                               1997 August 19



      -K, --sort-ksec
           Print and sort the output by the cpu-storage integral.
      -l, --separate-times
           Print separate columns for system and user time; usually the two
           are added together and listed as `cpu'.
      -m, --user-summary
           Print the number of processes and number of CPU minutes on a
           per-user basis.
      -n, --sort-num-calls
           Sort the output by the number of calls.  This is the default
           sorting method.
      -p, --show-paging
           Print the number of minor and major pagefaults and swaps.
      -P, --show-paging-avg
           Print the number of minor and major pagefaults and swaps divided
           by the number of calls.
      -r, --reverse-sort
           Sort output items in reverse order.
      -s, --merge
           Merge the summarized accounting data into the summary files
           savacct and usracct.
      -t, --print-ratio
           For each entry, print the ratio of real time to the sum of system
           and user times.  If the sum of system and user times is too small
           to report--the sum is zero--`*ignore*' will appear in this field.
      -u, --print-users
           For each command in the accounting file, print the userid and
           command name.  After printing all entries, quit.  *Note*: this
           flag supersedes all others.
      -v num --threshold num
           Print commands which were executed num times or fewer and await a
           reply from the terminal.  If the response begins with `y', add
           the command to the `**junk**' group.
      --separate-forks
           It really doesn't make any sense to me that the stock version of
           sa separates statistics for a particular executable depending on
           whether or not that command forked.  Therefore, GNU sa lumps this
           information together unless this option is specified.
      --ahz hz
           Use this flag to tell the program what AHZ should be (in hertz).
           This option is useful if you are trying to view an acct file
           created on another machine which has the same byte order and file
           format as your current machine, but has a different value for
           AHZ.
      --debug
           Print verbose internal information.
      -V, --version
           Print the version number of sa.
      -h, --help
           Prints the usage string and default locations of system files to
           standard output and exits.



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 SA(8)                                                                 SA(8)
                               1997 August 19



      --sort-real-time
           Sort the output by the "real time" field.
      --other-usracct-file filename
           Write summaries by user ID to filename rather than the system's
           default usracct file.
      --other-savacct-file filename
           Write summaries by command name to filename rather than the
           system's default SAVACCT file.
      --other-file filename
           Read from the file filename instead of the system's default ACCT
           file.
 FILES
      acct The raw system wide process accounting file. See acct(5) (or
           pacct(5)) for further details.
      savacct
           A summary of system process accounting sorted by command.
      usracct
           A summary of system process accounting sorted by user ID.

 BUGS
      There is not yet a wide experience base for comparing the output of
      GNU sa with versions of sa in many other systems.  The problem is that
      the data files grow big in a short time and therefore require a lot of
      disk space.

 AUTHOR
      The GNU accounting utilities were written by Noel Cragg
      <noel@gnu.ai.mit.edu>. The man page was adapted from the accounting
      texinfo page by Susan Kleinmann <sgk@sgk.tiac.net>.
 SEE ALSO
      acct(5), ac(8)























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