NAME

       lat_proc - process creation tests

SYNOPSIS

       lat_proc [ -P <parallelism> ] [ -W <warmups> ] [ -N <repetitions> ] procedure|fork|exec|shell

DESCRIPTION

       lat_proc  creates processes in three different forms, each more expensive than the last.  The purposes is
       to measure the time that it takes to create a basic thread of control.

       The forms are listed and described below:

       Process fork+exit   The time it takes to split a process into two (nearly) identical copies and have  one
                           exit.   This  is  how  new  processes  are  created but is not very useful since both
                           processes are doing the same thing.

       Process fork+execve The time it takes to create a new process  and  have  that  new  process  run  a  new
                           program.  This is the inner loop of all shells (command interpreters).

       Process fork+/bin/sh -c
                           The time it takes to create a new process and have that new process run a new program
                           by  asking  the  system  shell  to  find  that program and run it.  This is how the C
                           library interface called system is implemented.  It is the most general and the  most
                           expensive.

OUTPUT

       Output is in microseconds per operation like so:

       Process fork+exit: 6054 microseconds
       Process fork+execve: 11212 microseconds
       Process fork+/bin/sh -c: 44346 microseconds

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

       Funding for the development of this tool was provided by Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation.

SEE ALSO

       lmbench(8).

AUTHOR

       Carl Staelin and Larry McVoy

       Comments, suggestions, and bug reports are always welcome.

(c)1994 Larry McVoy                                  $Date$                                          LAT_PROC(8)