Tilda help show ps(1) error

[Avispa]

tilda --help, and others probably as well -- version for example, shows ps(1) error.

> tilda --help
ps: illegal argument: tilda
usage: ps [-aCcdefHhjlmrSTuvwXxZ] [-O fmt | -o fmt] [-G gid[,gid...]]
          [-J jid[,jid...]] [-M core] [-N system]
          [-p pid[,pid...]] [-t tty[,tty...]] [-U user[,user...]]
       ps [-L]
Aufruf:
  tilda [OPTION ?]
(...)

PS: A manpage (man(1)) would be neat anyhow.

[gzip4]

--- tilda.c.orig    2017-09-17 14:29:53.223379000 +0500
+++ tilda.c 2017-09-17 14:58:33.195631000 +0500
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@
 static GSList *getPids() {
     GSList *pids = NULL;
     FILE *ps_output;
-    const gchar ps_command[] = "ps -C tilda -o pid=";
+    const gchar ps_command[] = "pgrep -a tilda";
     gchar buf[16]; /* Really shouldn't need more than 6 */

     if ((ps_output = popen (ps_command, "r")) == NULL) {

[lanoxx]

If we change this, then lets use something that is POSIX compliant and will work on all systems.

How about:

-    const gchar ps_command[] = "ps -C tilda -o pid=";
+    const gchar ps_command[] = "ps -Aocomm=,pid=,etime= | "
                                "sed -ne \"s/^tilda  *//p\"";

[lanoxx]

See also: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/234709/avoid-pgrep-in-sh

[Avispa]

Without knowing the code or the background of the code but wouldn't it better to just call the appropriate C function than some "funky" programs? (For example: pid_t getpid(void);.)

[cypa]

@lanoxx, it works in busibox's ash indeed