From d7b396ae441ffa5f9c7e42a7f2ca8f8e7613f36a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Sebastien GODARD Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2022 15:12:25 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Update FAQ (#313) Make it clear that we actually use kibibytes, mebibytes, etc. Signed-off-by: Sebastien GODARD --- FAQ.md | 14 ++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+) diff --git a/FAQ.md b/FAQ.md index a5da217..677842d 100644 --- a/FAQ.md +++ b/FAQ.md @@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ [1.1.](#1_1) When I compile sysstat, it fails with the following message: `make: msgfmt: Command not found` [1.2.](#1_2) When I try to compile sysstat, it fails and says it cannot find some include files. [1.3.](#1_3) I don't understand why sysstat displays the time sometimes as `HH:MM:SS` and sometimes as `HH:MM:SS AM/PM`... +[1.4.](#1_4) What are the units actually used by sysstat commands? **[2. Questions related to sar, sadc and sadf](#sar)** @@ -128,6 +129,19 @@ Moyenne: all 0,24 0,00 89,64 0,00 10,12 As you can notice, the time format but also the date, the decimal point, and even some words (like "Average") have changed according to the specified locale. +--- + +1.4. What are the units actually used by sysstat commands? + + +A: Although sysstat commands use the following abbreviations: kB, MB, etc. +as part of the metrics names (e.g. kB_read/s, wkB/s, or even sometimes with a +lower 'b': kbmemfree, kbavail...), and the manual pages speak of kilobytes, +megabytes, etc., we always actually refer to kibibytes (kiB), mebibytes (MiB),... +A kibibyte is equal to 1024 bytes, and a mebibyte is equal to 1024 kibibytes. +Metrics names have been defined many years ago. We don't modify them to avoid +breaking third-party programs parsing sysstat commands' output. + --- ### 2. Questions related to sar, sadc and sadf -- 2.40.0