imsnif/bandwhich

Electron processes shown as UNKNOWN

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#196 opened on Nov 17, 2020

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 (12 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)Rust (7,686 stars) (237 forks)batch import
bughelp wanted

Description

Every Electron ap is shown as “UNKNOWN”. I’m not sure about the details. I don’t know how bandwhich determines the process names, but utilities like top and ps shows Electron process names just fine.

To reproduce:

  1. Start bandwhich
  2. Install any Electron app and run it (e.g. Joplin, Spotify, Bitwarden)

Edit: This issue previously misidentified the cause as Flatpak. However, it turns out the root cause seems to be Electron apps (either running in Flatpak or unconstrained).

Contributor guide

Tech stack
rust
Domain
cli
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
needs investigation
Prerequisites
RustLinux /proc filesystem
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
50
Research direction
Investigate how `bandwhich` determines process names, likely via reading `/proc/PID/cmdline` or `/proc/PID/comm`. Check the relevant source file (e.g., `src/process.rs`) to understand the name retrieval logic. Test with a sample Electron app to confirm the issue. Consider using the `procfs` crate's `comm` field or other methods. Look at linked issues or PRs for prior discussion.