The /proc
file system is
specific to GNU/Linux. It is a virtual file system, so the files that
you will find in this directory do not actually take up any space on your
hard drive. It is a very convenient way to obtain information about the
system, especially since most files in this directory are human readable
(well, with a little help). Many programs actually gather information from
files in /proc
, format it in their own way and then
display the results. There are a few programs which display information
about processes (top, ps and friends) which do exactly
that. /proc
is also a good source of information about
your hardware, and just like the programs which display processes, quite a
few programs are just interfaces to the information contained in
/proc
.
There is also a special subdirectory,
/proc/sys
. It allows you to display kernel parameters
and to change them, with the changes taking effect immediately.