When I install a large package it can take up to several hours to compile it. If I or my wife want to do some other work in the meantime, the compilation in the background sometimes slows down the work which can be annoying. Is it possible to pause a compilation for a while and then after the other work is done to resume it?If you started the installation with FinkCommander, I think you can't do anything, you'll just have to stop the whole thing. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
However, if you started the installation manually in Terminal.app, you can just press Ctrl+Z while you're in the Terminal.app window that "contains" the compilation process. The process will be stopped and put to sleep in the background. You can then go and do the other work, and when you're ready to continue just return to the Terminal.app window where you stopped the process and type "fg" (without quotes). fg = foreground.
The next paragraphs should be valid for the shells sh, bash and probably ksh. After a quick peek into the tcsh and csh man pages I think that whenever I refer to a job number x you should replace it instead by %x.
If you are not sure whether you have stopped jobs in a given Terminal.app window, just type "jobs" and you will get a list of jobs that you have put in the background. If there are several of them they will be marked with a number. Type for instance "fg 2" to continue with job 2.
You could also say "bg 2" to continue job 2 in the background. You are then free to type other commands on the shell prompt while the job runs in the background. Note that the background job will still send all output to the screen as if it were in the foreground. This can interfere with the output of another command that you have started in the meantime, or even with the command that you're typing right now. The interference is actually harmless - it will not affect how another command is executed, nor will the output mix with anything that you type. If you're not sure about this, just fool around with harmless commands such as "find" that generate lots of output.
If you find yourself in a situation where a "runaway" background job is wildly polluting your window with output and it seems you're helpless, just try the following
- blindly type "fg x" (where x is the number of the runaway job)
- now you have the job in the foreground and you can just type Ctrl+Z to put it to sleep, or Ctrl+C to abort it.
Finally, if you'd like to start a job in the background from the first moment, just type your command as normal and then append an & (ampersand) to the very end of the command.
Hope this little course in job management helps.
Patrick
-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.NET email is sponsored by: Geek Gift Procrastinating?
Get the perfect geek gift now! Before the Holidays pass you by.
T H I N K G E E K . C O M http://www.thinkgeek.com/sf/
_______________________________________________
Fink-users mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fink-users
