/proc Directory: Explanation & Insights
Virtual filesystem that contains information about the system's processes, memory, and other hardware components
The /proc directory is a virtual filesystem that contains information about the system's processes, memory, and other
hardware components. It is dynamically generated by the kernel and does not exist as a traditional directory on disk.
Here is a list of important files and directories in the /proc directory and their meanings:
/proc/acpi/- Provides information about the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) of the system./proc/buddyinfo- Contains information about the free and used pages in the kernel's buddy system, which manages memory allocation./proc/bus/- Contains information about the system's buses, such as PCI and USB./proc/cgroups- Displays information about the control groups (cgroups) configured on the system./proc/cmdline- Contains the command-line arguments that were passed to the kernel at boot time./proc/consoles- Provides information about the consoles configured on the system./proc/cpuinfo- Contains detailed information about the processor, including the model, vendor, and features./proc/crypto- Displays information about the cryptographic algorithms available on the system./proc/devices- Lists the device drivers that are currently loaded on the system./proc/diskstats- Contains statistics about the block devices on the system./proc/dma- Contains information about the Direct Memory Access (DMA) channels on the system./proc/driver/- Directory containing information about various device drivers./proc/dynamic_debug/- Directory containing information related to dynamic kernel debugging./proc/execdomains- Displays the execution domains supported by the kernel./proc/fb- Contains information about frame buffer devices./proc/filesystems- Lists the filesystems supported by the kernel./proc/fs/- Directory containing information about filesystem-related data./proc/interrupts- Lists the interrupts that are currently in use on the system./proc/iomem- Displays the system's physical memory map./proc/ioports- Lists the I/O ports used by devices on the system./proc/irq/- Directory containing information about Interrupt Request (IRQ) handlers./proc/kallsyms- Displays the kernel's symbol table, including function and variable names./proc/kcore- Provides access to the kernel's core memory image./proc/keys- Displays information about the keyrings used by the kernel./proc/key-users- Lists users of the keyrings./proc/kmsg- Provides access to the kernel's message buffer./proc/kpagecgroup- Displays information about kernel page cgroups./proc/kpagecount- Provides information about the number of pages in the system./proc/kpageflags- Displays page flags information./proc/loadavg- Contains system load average information./proc/locks- Displays information about file and record locks in the system./proc/mdstat- Provides information about the status of software RAID devices./proc/meminfo- Contains information about the system's memory usage and availability./proc/misc- Displays information about miscellaneous devices and drivers./proc/modules- Lists the kernel modules that are currently loaded on the system./proc/mounts- Lists the filesystems that are currently mounted on the system./proc/mtrr- Displays information about memory type range registers./proc/net/- Contains information about the network interfaces and protocols on the system./proc/pagetypeinfo- Displays information about page types in the system./proc/partitions- Lists the disk partitions on the system./proc/pressure/- Directory containing information about resource pressure./proc/self/- Symbolic link to the process's own directory./proc/slabinfo- Displays information about kernel slab caches./proc/softirqs- Lists information about software interrupts./proc/stat- Contains various statistics about the system, including CPU usage and process counts./proc/swaps- Lists the swap spaces on the system./proc/sys/- Contains various system parameters that can be configured through the sysctl command./proc/sysrq-trigger- A direct interface to send commands to the kernel./proc/sysvipc/- Contains information about System V IPC objects./proc/thread-self/- Symbolic link to the thread-specific directory./proc/timer_list- Displays information about kernel timers./proc/tty/- Contains information about terminal devices./proc/uptime- Contains the uptime of the system, in seconds./proc/version- Contains the version of the Linux kernel./proc/[pid]- Each process on the system has a directory under/procwith the process ID as the name. These directories contain information about the corresponding process, such as its memory usage and status.
