ERROR - Can not stat file / proc / 32641 / fd / 338 - What is the usefulness of the proc directory?

The /proc directory contains some statistics about the machine. In general, they are raw files without formatting. For example:

[leandro@localhost ~]$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor   : 0
vendor_id   : GenuineIntel
cpu family  : 6
model       : 30
model name  : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         870  @ 2.93GHz
stepping    : 5
microcode   : 0x7
cpu MHz     : 1200.000
cache size  : 8192 KB
physical id : 0
siblings    : 8
core id     : 0
cpu cores   : 4
apicid      : 0
initial apicid  : 0
fpu     : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level : 11
...

You have data about memory, processes, network traffic, disks. The top utility, for example, uses these files. Usually linux mounts this filesystem in startup .

In your case,

/proc/32641/fd/338

stands for 32641 is the process number and 338 is the file descriptor used by the process. Possibly within this directory, I would have statistics of using it. But as the process might have ended, it showed the error message when listing, because it did not exist.

Reference for reading / proc of the kernel manual.

  The / proc on Linux is a virtual directory that serves as "diagnostics" and real-time kernel configurations.

The / proc file system is a special directory where all kernel debugging information is stored. There are also some settings that enable and disable support for something in the kernel. It is very useful for diagnosing your hardware. I'll comment on / proc files here for you to 'debug' your hardware:

/proc/devices

Here are the devices found on your system, including modem, sound card, network card, keyboard, printer, etc.

/proc/interrupts

In this file are the device IRQ information.

/proc/ioports

I / O port address information (Input / Output).

/proc/pci

PCI devices installed in the system. The 'lspci' command also serves to show this file.

/proc/cpuinfo

Here you can see the characteristics of your processor and machine.

/proc/filesystems

File systems supported by the kernel.

/proc/devices

Installed general devices.

/proc/meminfo

Memory information used. The 'free' command also serves to show this file.

/proc/modules

Modules loaded in the kernel. The 'lsmod' command also serves to show this file.

/proc/mounts

Assembled partitions. The 'mount' command with no parameter shows this file.

/proc/partitions

Existing partitions that Linux recognized.

/proc/version

Kernel version. The 'uname' command also serves to show this file.

  

Explore this directory! Just do not give a cat the / proc / kcore file, please! :) kcore = core kernel.