Subject: Re: [vserver] Users have no way to find out when a process started
From: Herbert Poetzl <herbert@13thfloor.at>
Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2016 04:09:26 +0100

On Fri, Nov 04, 2016 at 09:10:45AM +0800, 積丹尼 Dan Jacobson wrote:
> Please help with:

Hello Dan,

> User does ps aux to find out if he has any processes lying
> around from yesterday that are stuck etc.

> User sees erroneous start dates months off for all processes.

> User has absolutely no way to find out when a process started.

> See http://bugs.debian.org/842879 .

I've read through the debian bug report and it seems to
be filled with misconceptions and misinformation, but
nevertheless, some basic information could be extracted.

> If you can help, write me and I will give you an account 
> just like mine on the private server, so you can poke 
> around.

> All I can do is create and delete accounts and reboot my 
> slice of the server.

> I have no access to the underlying computer.

Here is some information from the Linux-VServer side:

 - Uptime in a Linux-VServer guest can be virtualized.
   This is done by keeping a record when the guest
   started and subtracting this start time from all
   time values presented to processes inside the
   guest.

 - Depending on the kernel and the guest config, this
   virtualization can be present/enabled or not present
   or just disabled.
   
 - Chances are good, that the kernel/patch used on this
   system has incomplete virtualization in this regard
   which gives odd results.

 - Nothing can be done from inside the guest to fix
   this problem or enable this kind of virtualization.
   Changes have to be made on the host.

Hope that clarifies,
Herbert