influxdata/telegraf

Feature request: custom arguments to pgrep for procstat

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#2505 opened on Mar 7, 2017

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Description

Proposal:

For advanced use cases, it would be nice to be able to provide custom arguments to the pgrep command used by the procstat input plugin.

Current behavior:

No such option

Desired behavior:

[[inputs.procstat]]
  pgrep = ["-w","-x","foo"]

Use case: [Why is this important (helps with prioritizing requests)]

In my specific use case, and in the example I gave above, we want -w so that we can monitor threads. We also need -x so that pgrep doesn't erroneously match the wrong process. The -x is just a nicety though, and we can match other ways. The important bit which we have no workaround for is the -w. But a generic way to provide custom arguments makes it more flexible so users can do whatever they want.

Ref: #1828 #1723 #932

Contributor guide

Tech stack
go
Domain
observability
Issue type
feature
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.
clear
Prerequisites
Go programmingTelegraf plugin developmentpgrep command
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
65
Research direction
Start by examining the procstat plugin located in plugins/inputs/procstat/. Look at how other input plugins handle custom configuration options. The issue requests adding a 'pgrep' config option that accepts an array of strings. Consider implementing a function that splits the array and passes them to the pgrep command. Check the existing config parsing in agent/config.go for pattern. Also review linked issues #1828, #1723, and #932 for prior discussions.