whoisusing

A Python script for Linux which displays the local users who are using a specified application or service.

Setup

Clone this repository or download the zip and extract contents to a local directory.

Using terminal, navigate to the whoisusing directory and run the following commands:

$ chmod +x ./setup.sh
$ sudo ./setup.sh

This will create a directory in /usr/local/bin/ named whoisusing-1.0 and it will also add a symlink of /usr/local/bin/whoisusing-1.0/whoisusing to /usr/local/bin/.

Usage

whoisusing <name> <option>

Example:

$ whoisusing mysql
mysql

The output is the name of the user.

Options:

-a : Return the actual filename associated with found processes

$ whoisusing cups -a
root	cupsd cups-browsed 
lp	dbus

The actual filenames retrieved for each user are separated from each other by a space.

-s : Returns only the results that have matching filenames

Notice the actual name above for user lp is too different from the searched name cups. In order to prevent this, the strict option flag, -s, will ensure that the associated filenames are a close match to the searched name.

whoisusing cups -s
root

Additionally, one may combine options for more detailed results, like so:

$ whoisusing cups -sa
root	cupsd 

-p : Return users with their associated PIDs

$ whoisusing mysql -p
mysql   1412

Similar to ps aux | grep mysql | awk '{ print $1, $2 }' with the difference being that all of the associated PIDs of each unique user are listed on the same line, like so:

$ whoisusing mysql -p
mysql   1412 1413

-where the latter would display:

$ ps aux | grep mysql | awk '{ print $1,  $2 }'
mysql 1412
mysql 1413

-d : Return the directories associated with the user who's using the specified process

$ whoisusing cups -d
root	/usr/sbin/cupsd /usr/sbin/cups-browsed 
lp	/usr/lib/cups/notifier/dbus 

This can be combined with other options.

$ whoisusing cups -apd
root	cupsd 3703 cups-browsed 3704 
	/usr/sbin/cupsd /usr/sbin/cups-browsed 
lp	dbus 3712 
	/usr/lib/cups/notifier/dbus 

-l : Return the lines that were used to determine who the users are

$ whoisusing mysql -l
mysql     1412  0  1.5 1253291 156937 ?      Ssl  00:20   0:01 /usr/sbin/mysqld

mysql

The line returned is exactly similar to the output of ps aux | grep mysql. In case of multiple results, first all of the lines will be printed in the same respective order as the user names which follow.

Removal

Using terminal, run the following command:

$ sudo /usr/local/bin/whoisusing-1.0/remove.sh

If whoisusing was placed somewhere else, then one may use the --whereami option to find where it is.

$ whoisusing --whereami

This is the same as the following command:

$ whereis whoisusing

A directory should be returned, like so:

whoisusing: /usr/local/bin/whoisusing

If that fails, then an additional method of finding whoisusing has been provided with the --findme flag.

$ whoisusing --findme

This is the same as invoking the command:

$ find / -name "whoisusing" 2>/dev/null

-from which one would normally expect to receive the following result:

/usr/local/bin/whoisusing
/usr/local/bin/whoisusing-1.0/whoisusing

From the found directory, run the remove.sh script using sudo.

Remarks

In general, whoisusing requires more work, as there is more to be desired. However, it does its job as a quick CLI tool.

Contributing

All pull requests are welcome.