To answer your second question, I did a little googling:
I got this from the Linux man page:
Quote:
stat STAT multi-character process state. See section PROCESS STATE CODES for the different values meaning. See also s and state if you just want the first character displayed.
If you look up the PROCESS STATE CODES, this is what you get:
Quote:
D
Uninterruptible sleep (usually IO)
R
Running or runnable (on run queue)
S
Interruptible sleep (waiting for an event to complete)
T
Stopped, either by a job control signal or because it is being traced.
W
paging (not valid since the 2.6.xx kernel)
X
dead (should never be seen)
Z
Defunct ("zombie") process, terminated but not reaped by its parent.
The state 'A' does not appear.
--EDIT--
Even the HP-UX man page does not list a process state 'A'. HP ps does not have a STAT column, it has S instead.
S (l) The state of the process:
0 non-existent;
S sleeping;
W waiting;
R running;
I intermediate;
Z terminated;
T stopped;
X growing.
--/EDIT--
--EDIT--
Ditto with Sun
S (l)
The state of the process:
O
Process is running on a processor.
S
Sleeping: process is waiting for an event to complete.
R
Runnable: process is on run queue.
Z
Zombie state: process terminated and parent not waiting.
T
Process is stopped, either by a job control signal or because it is being traced.
--/EDIT--
