Top is red

rh995 · 2014-11-12 05:28:12

Today, when I booted up my computer as usual, and started top to see which programs were running, all the text was red with some orange highlights, rather than the usual white text with white highlighting. This is quite frightening, and I am wondering what changed and how to get back to the usual and more aesthetically pleasing old white version.

loafer · 2014-11-12 06:03:46

[2014-11-11 05:36] [PACMAN] upgraded procps-ng (3.3.9-3 -> 3.3.10-1)

You can enter interactive mode with Z and select the color(s) you prefer.

rh995 · 2014-11-12 06:06:47

Thanks for the tip; it already looks less hideous. Now I'm wondering about the other changes. It appears that this new top displays a process `tree' which gives useful information. Is there a place on the internet where I can read the full changelog?

karol · 2014-11-12 06:59:25

https://gitorious.org/procps/procps/sou … angeLog#L3 - that's a lot of commits to go through.
I don't see a changelog and unfortunately /usr/share/doc/procps-ng/README.top looks out of date.

Edit: There's https://gitorious.org/procps/procps/sou … a5f1e:NEWS

Last edited by karol (2014-11-12 07:00:49)

phects · 2014-11-12 07:33:17

I was confused, too... ;-)

As a workaround, I made a PKGBUILD configuring procps-ng with --disable-modern-top (as mentioned in the changelog):
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/procps-ng-classic/

I'm looking forward to someone coming up with a ~/.toprc mimicing the old configuration!

procps-ng-sucks · 2014-11-12 20:59:25

remove your ~/.toprc (if any)
start "top"

press z
press V
press 1
press y
press m m
press t t t
press W

this will write a ~/.toprc fairly similar to what you are used to.

Last edited by procps-ng-sucks (2014-11-12 21:09:28)

smirky · 2014-11-12 22:04:28

Nice nickname and thanks for the info

Ochi · 2014-11-13 16:01:15

The worst thing about the default config is that it is wasting sooo much space if you have some cores in your box x.x Or is it just me?

Image Link

But thanks procps-ng-sucks, your tip works beautifully.

karol · 2014-11-13 16:04:06

It's the same with the default htop setup. Both applications are configurable.
It's not a waste of screen real estate if you do need this info.

Trilby · 2014-11-13 16:24:53

Oh dear gawd! I followed procps-ng-suck's suggestion then out of curiosity opened the toprc file in a text editor. That has to be the most hideous least human-readable/editable config file ever (except for windows' binary data configs). Good thing I always just use htop anyways.

karol · 2014-11-13 16:39:45

Oh yes :-D
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 2#p1474872 reminded me of the arcane incantations required to make fdisk do its job, so I thought I'll have a look at the toprc, because I thought it's similar to htoprc ...

$ cat ~/.toprc
top's Config File (Linux processes with windows)
Id:i, Mode_altscr=0, Mode_irixps=1, Delay_time=1.500, Curwin=0
Def     fieldscur=&K@56)*+,-./0128<>?ABCGHIJLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghij
        winflags=192564, sortindx=18, maxtasks=0, graph_cpus=0, graph_mems=0
        summclr=1, msgsclr=1, headclr=3, taskclr=1
Job     fieldscur=(Ļ@<*+,-./012568>?ABCFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghij
        winflags=163124, sortindx=0, maxtasks=0, graph_cpus=2, graph_mems=0
        summclr=6, msgsclr=6, headclr=7, taskclr=6
Mem     fieldscur=<MBN34'()*+,-./0125689FGHIJKLOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghij
        winflags=163124, sortindx=21, maxtasks=0, graph_cpus=2, graph_mems=0
        summclr=5, msgsclr=5, headclr=4, taskclr=5
Usr     fieldscur=)+,-./1234568;<=>?@ABCFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghij
        winflags=163124, sortindx=3, maxtasks=0, graph_cpus=2, graph_mems=0
        summclr=3, msgsclr=3, headclr=2, taskclr=3
Fixed_widest=0, Summ_mscale=2, Task_mscale=1, Zero_suppress=0

$ cat /home/karol/.config/htop/htoprc
# Beware! This file is rewritten by htop when settings are changed in the interface.
# The parser is also very primitive, and not human-friendly.
fields=62 63 0 48 38 39 40 2 46 47 1
sort_key=46
sort_direction=1
hide_threads=0
hide_kernel_threads=1
hide_userland_threads=1
shadow_other_users=0
show_thread_names=0
highlight_base_name=1
highlight_megabytes=1
highlight_threads=0
tree_view=1
header_margin=1
detailed_cpu_time=0
cpu_count_from_zero=0
update_process_names=0
account_guest_in_cpu_meter=0
color_scheme=1
delay=15
left_meters=AllCPUs2
left_meter_modes=1
right_meters=Tasks
right_meter_modes=2

ssri · 2014-11-14 15:42:52

Nice to see the old top display return. Thanks procps-ng-sucks for the tip!

dx · 2014-11-15 00:10:17

I don't get it. Is this violent red supposed to look nice anywhere? I guess this is the wrong place to ask, though.

Any chances arch can just compile it with --disable-modern-top? Or is this not a packager's problem and should be dealt with upstream?

EDIT: fwiw, just disabling colors with "z" and writing config with "W" seems enough to stop the eye cancer for me.

Last edited by dx (2014-11-15 00:13:51)

KlipperKyle · 2014-11-21 00:29:28

procps-ng-sucks wrote:

press y

Instead of pressing y you can press b to switch between highlight mode (hard on eyes) and bold mode (easy on eyes and behavior of older versions).

Thanks, everyone!

graysky · 2014-11-24 18:42:57

Z will allow you to create your own color scheme or use the 4 built in ones... save your preferences with the W key. ...or just use htop.

Last edited by graysky (2014-11-24 18:45:44)

ckoller · 2014-12-02 15:42:31

Oh, procps-ng-really-sucks.

Is there any way to:

a) get rid of .toprc from ~ ??
Years ago in some Filesystem Hierarchy Standard it was suggested to
use ~/.config/<packagename> to avoid cluttering ~ with all the user settings.

b) have a system-wide /etc/toprc which resembles exactly the classic-style top?
Yes, I've red the man page of top, section 6a:
Here is an example of the contents of /etc/toprc:
s # line 1: secure mode switch
5.0 # line 2: delay interval in seconds
WTF is the format again different to ~/.toprc???

On Fedora they mention procps-ng with
"Even if there are more than 30 packages depending on the procps tools,
the change shouldn't have major negative impact on the dependent packages."
They must be kidding, right?!

Why didn't they just chose a different filename for a different program?
Vote for "top-ng" ?

karol · 2014-12-02 15:46:07

It looks more like 'last-gen' then 'next generation' ...
Have you tried moving ~/.toprc to see if the other locations work?

deepsoul · 2014-12-04 10:12:29

ckoller wrote:

Why didn't they just chose a different filename for a different program? Vote for "top-ng" ?

Considering the trouble it has caused us, I suggest the name "bottom".

Thanks to procps-ng-sucks again.

There seems to be an AUR package now that has different defaults for top: procps-ng-classic, though I haven't tried it.

JoeHartley · 2014-12-18 12:20:33

Thanks for this tip. I stated top the other day and thought "what new fresh hell is this?" A quick search lead me here to sanity again.

procps-ng-sucks wrote:

remove your ~/.toprc (if any)
start "top"
press z
press V
press 1
press y
press m m
press t t t
press W
this will write a ~/.toprc fairly similar to what you are used to.

Xezlec · 2014-12-20 17:20:41

Thanks for the fix. Do they have a child maintaining this now? Whoever changed top's default behavior from "show the top CPU users" to "show a full process tree and some wannabe conky crap" clearly has not done enough system administration to ever have to use top for what it's actually for.

Havin_it · 2015-07-04 12:06:16

procps-ng-sucks wrote:

remove your ~/.toprc (if any)
start "top"
press z
press V
press 1
press y
press m m
press t t t
press W
this will write a ~/.toprc fairly similar to what you are used to.

@procps-ng-sucks, if I weren't a dude I'd offer to have your babies. My poor damaged but recovering eyes salute you!

+1 for renaming the app "bottom".

WorMzy · 2015-07-04 12:23:18

Since this topic is degenerating into rants and "me too" posts, I think we are done here.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … cs.2Frants
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … mpty_posts

Closing.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-11-12 05:28:12

Top is red

#2 2014-11-12 06:03:46

Re: Top is red

#3 2014-11-12 06:06:47

Re: Top is red

#4 2014-11-12 06:59:25

Re: Top is red

#5 2014-11-12 07:33:17

Re: Top is red

#6 2014-11-12 20:59:25

Re: Top is red

#7 2014-11-12 22:04:28

Re: Top is red

#8 2014-11-13 16:01:15

Re: Top is red

#9 2014-11-13 16:04:06

Re: Top is red

#10 2014-11-13 16:24:53

Re: Top is red

#11 2014-11-13 16:39:45

Re: Top is red

#12 2014-11-14 15:42:52

Re: Top is red

#13 2014-11-15 00:10:17

Re: Top is red

#14 2014-11-21 00:29:28

Re: Top is red

#15 2014-11-24 18:42:57

Re: Top is red

#16 2014-12-02 15:42:31

Re: Top is red

#17 2014-12-02 15:46:07

Re: Top is red

#18 2014-12-04 10:12:29

Re: Top is red

#19 2014-12-18 12:20:33

Re: Top is red

#20 2014-12-20 17:20:41

Re: Top is red

#21 2015-07-04 12:06:16

Re: Top is red

#22 2015-07-04 12:23:18

Re: Top is red

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