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ACCT(2)                       System Calls Manual                      ACCT(2)



NAME
       acct - turn accounting on or off

SYNOPSIS
       acct(file)
       char *file;

DESCRIPTION
       The system is prepared to write a record in an accounting file for each
       process as it terminates.  This call,  with  a  null-terminated  string
       naming  an  existing file as argument, turns on accounting; records for
       each terminating process are appended to file.  An argument of 0 causes
       accounting to be turned off.

       The accounting file format is given in acct(5).

SEE ALSO
       acct(5), sa(8)

DIAGNOSTICS
       On error -1 is returned.  The file must exist and the call may be exer‐
       cised only by the super-user.  It is erroneous to try to  turn  on  ac‐
       counting when it is already on.

BUGS
       No accounting is produced for programs running when a crash occurs.  In
       particular nonterminating programs are never accounted for.



                                                                       ACCT(2)