Unix::Statgrab - Perl extension for collecting information about the machine use Unix::Statgrab; local $, = "\n"; my $host = get_host_info or die get_error; print $host->os_name, $host->os_release, $host->os_version, ...; my $disks = get_disk_io_stats or die get_error; for (0 .. $disks->num_disks - 1) { print $disks->disk_name($_), $disks->read_bytes($_), ...; } Unix::Statgrab is a wrapper for libstatgrab as available from <http://www.i-scream.org/libstatgrab/>. It is a reasonably portable attempt to query interesting stats about your computer. It covers information on the operating system, CPU, memory usage, network interfaces, hard-disks etc. Each of the provided functions follow a simple rule: It never takes any argument and returns either an object (in case of success) or "undef". In case "undef" was returned, check the return value of "get_error". Also see "ERROR HANDLING" further below.

drop_privileges()
Unix::Statgrab can be told to discard setuid and setgid privileges which is usually a good thing. If your program doesn't need the elevated privileges somewhere else, call it right after "use"ing the module.

get_host_info()
Returns generic information about this machine. The object it returns supports the following methods:

get_cpu_stats
Returns information about this machine's usage of the CPU. The object it returns supports the following methods, all of which return the number of ticks the processor has spent in the respective states: The system time in seconds.

get_cpu_stats_diff
Returns the differences in ticks for each of the states since last time "get_cpu_stats" or "get_cpu_stats_diff" was called. If "cpu_get_stats_diff" is called for the first time (and "get_cpu_stats" wasn't called before) its return values will be the same as "get_cpu_stats". Its return value supports the same methods as "get_cpu_stats". "systime" then will be the seconds since the last call of this function.

get_cpu_percents
Calls "get_cpu_stats_diff" under the hood but instead of returning ticks, it returns percentages. Its return value provides the same methods as "get_cpu_stats" and "get_cpu_stats_diff".

get_disk_io_stats
Returns the disk IO per disk stored in the kernel which holds the amount of data transferred since bootup. Unlike most other methods presented in this manpage, the methods you can call on its return value take an additional optional parameter which specifies which disk you want information about. If you do not provide this parameter, 0 (= first disk) is assumed. The number of disks that were found on this machine. The system time in seconds over which "read_bytes" and "write_bytes" were transferred.

get_disk_io_stats_diff
The same as "get_disk_io_stats" except that it will report the difference to the last call of either "get_disk_io_stats" or "get_disk_io_stats_diff". Provides the same methods as "get_disk_io_stats".

get_fs_stats
Returns statistics about the mounted filesystems, including free space and inode usage. The provided methods again take one optional argument which specifies which partition you want information about. If you do not provide this parameter, 0 (= first mounted filesystem) is assumed: The number of mounted filesystems that were found on this machine. Size in bytes. The recommended size in bytes when doing I/O operations on this device.

get_load_stats()
Returns the load average over various span of times. The following methods are provided: Load average over 1 minute.

get_mem_stats()
Returns statistics about memory usage. The following methods exist: Total memory in bytes. Amount of cache used in bytes.

get_swap_stats()
Returns statistics about swap usage. The following methods exist: Total swap memory in bytes.

get_network_io_stats()
Returns statistics about the network traffic per network interface as stored in the kernel. Again, the provided methods support one optional parameter specifiying which network interface to query. If the parameter is missing, 0 (= first interface) is assumed. The number of network interfaces found on your machine. The number of bytes transmitted. The number of bytes received. The number of packets received. The number of bytes transmitted. The number of receive errors The number of transmit errors The time period over which "tx" and "rx" were transferred.

get_network_io_stats_diff()
The same as "get_network_io_stats" except that it will report on the difference to the last time "get_network_io_stats" or "get_network_io_stats_diff" was called. It supports the same methods as "get_network_io_stats".

get_network_iface_stats()
Returns statistics about each of the found network interfaces in your computer. The provided methods take one optional argument being the interface to query. If this parameter is missing, 0 (= first interface) is assumed. The number of interfaces found. The speed of the interface, in megabits/sec One of "SG_IFACE_DUPLEX_FULL", "SG_IFACE_DUPLEX_HALF" and "SG_IFACE_DUPLEX_UNKNOWN". Unknown could mean that duplex hasn't been negotiated yet. Whether the interface is up.

get_page_stats()
Returns the number of pages the system has paged in and out since bootup. It supports the following methods: The time period over which pages_pagein and pages_pageout were transferred, in seconds.

get_page_stats_diff()
The same as "get_page_stats" except that it will report the difference to the last time "get_page_stats" or "get_page_stats_diff" was called. Supports the same methods as "get_page_stats".

get_user_stats()
Returns information about the currently logged in users. It supports the following methods: The number of currently logged in users. A list of the users currently logged in.

get_process_stats()
Returns loads of information about the current processes. This function only returns a container. If you want to look at the processes returned, call "all_procs" on its return value. The processes can also be sorted by various criteria by using the "sort_by" method. This will change the internal order of the container. This method returns the container object so you can do some method chaining: my $procs = get_process_stats; $procs->sort_by("name"); print $_->proc_name, "\n" foreach $procs->all_procs; # syntactically sweeter print $_->proc_name, "\n" foreach get_process_stats->sort_by("name")->all_procs; Available sorting methods are "name", "pid", "uid", "gid", "size", "res", "cpu" and "time". You can also sort the list returned by "all_procs". For that you can use one of the eight sorting routines thusly: my $p = get_process_stats; my @by_name = sort sort_procs_by_name $p->all_procs; my @by_pid = sort sort_procs_by_pid $p->all_procs; my @by_uid = sort sort_procs_by_uid $p->all_procs; # etc. Each object returned by "all_procs" supports the following methods: The full command line with which the process was started. Process ID of process group leader. Effective user ID. Effective group ID. In bytes. In bytes. Time running in seconds. One of "SG_PROCESS_STATE_RUNNING", "SG_PROCESS_STATE_SLEEPING", "SG_PROCESS_STATE_STOPPED", "SG_PROCESS_STATE_ZOMBIE" and "SG_PROCESS_STATE_UNKNOWN". One function "get_error" exists that will return the error encountered during the last operation, if any. Its return value is dual-typed. In string context, it returns a text representation of the error. In numeric context it returns one of the following values: SG_ERROR_ASPRINTF SG_ERROR_DEVSTAT_GETDEVS SG_ERROR_DEVSTAT_SELECTDEVS SG_ERROR_ENOENT SG_ERROR_GETIFADDRS SG_ERROR_GETMNTINFO SG_ERROR_GETPAGESIZE SG_ERROR_KSTAT_DATA_LOOKUP SG_ERROR_KSTAT_LOOKUP SG_ERROR_KSTAT_OPEN SG_ERROR_KSTAT_READ SG_ERROR_KVM_GETSWAPINFO SG_ERROR_KVM_OPENFILES SG_ERROR_MALLOC SG_ERROR_NONE SG_ERROR_OPEN SG_ERROR_OPENDIR SG_ERROR_PARSE SG_ERROR_SETEGID SG_ERROR_SETEUID SG_ERROR_SETMNTENT SG_ERROR_SOCKET SG_ERROR_SWAPCTL SG_ERROR_SYSCONF SG_ERROR_SYSCTL SG_ERROR_SYSCTLBYNAME SG_ERROR_SYSCTLNAMETOMIB SG_ERROR_UNAME SG_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED SG_ERROR_XSW_VER_MISMATCH Based on the above, you have finer control over the error handling: my $disks = get_disk_io_stats; if (! $disks) { if (get_error == SG_ERROR_PARSE) { ... } else if (get_error == SG_ERROR_OPEN) { ... } etc. } All by default. This means all of the above functions plus the following constants: SG_ERROR_ASPRINTF SG_ERROR_DEVSTAT_GETDEVS SG_ERROR_DEVSTAT_SELECTDEVS SG_ERROR_ENOENT SG_ERROR_GETIFADDRS SG_ERROR_GETMNTINFO SG_ERROR_GETPAGESIZE SG_ERROR_KSTAT_DATA_LOOKUP SG_ERROR_KSTAT_LOOKUP SG_ERROR_KSTAT_OPEN SG_ERROR_KSTAT_READ SG_ERROR_KVM_GETSWAPINFO SG_ERROR_KVM_OPENFILES SG_ERROR_MALLOC SG_ERROR_NONE SG_ERROR_OPEN SG_ERROR_OPENDIR SG_ERROR_PARSE SG_ERROR_SETEGID SG_ERROR_SETEUID SG_ERROR_SETMNTENT SG_ERROR_SOCKET SG_ERROR_SWAPCTL SG_ERROR_SYSCONF SG_ERROR_SYSCTL SG_ERROR_SYSCTLBYNAME SG_ERROR_SYSCTLNAMETOMIB SG_ERROR_UNAME SG_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED SG_ERROR_XSW_VER_MISMATCH SG_IFACE_DUPLEX_FULL SG_IFACE_DUPLEX_HALF SG_IFACE_DUPLEX_UNKNOWN SG_PROCESS_STATE_RUNNING SG_PROCESS_STATE_SLEEPING SG_PROCESS_STATE_STOPPED SG_PROCESS_STATE_UNKNOWN SG_PROCESS_STATE_ZOMBIE If you don't want that, use the module thusly: use Unix::Statgrab (); or provide a list of those symbols you want: use Unix::Statgrab qw/get_network_iface_stats SG_IFACE_DUPLEX_FULL SG_IFACE_DUPLEX_HALF SG_IFACE_DUPLEX_UNKNOWN/; The excellent and very complete manpage of statgrab(3). You can get additional information for each of the above functions by prefixing the function name with "sg_" and feed it to "man": man sg_get_network_iface_stats libstatgrab's home is at <http://www.i-scream.org/libstatgrab/> Tassilo von Parseval, <tassilo.von.parseval@rwth-aachen.de> Copyright (C) 2004-2005 by Tassilo von Parseval This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.