[colug-432] Streaming

[Richard Troth]

I don't know the full history of /proc throughout all Unixdom.  My
first exposure to it was on Solaris (Sun).  Also saw it on IRIX (SGI).
 Linux has had it for a very long time, maybe prior to 1.0.  (I used
0.99, but I don't remember if /proc was present.)

The implication from its name is that it holds PROCess information.
So there is a sub-directory for each running process.  A normal Linux
system will always have process #1 (INIT), so you can eyeball the
contents of /proc/1 and see how things look.  (INIT is a simple case,
so /proc/1 won't necessarily have as much interesting stuff as other
pseudo directories under /proc.)

(forgive me if you know this)   The <PID> nomenclature was simply a
shortcut for "any process number".  So ... find out the process ID of
your running media player (eg: when you are at the library).  Say it
is 1234.  Then /proc/<PID>/fd would be /proc/1234/fd, which is a
pseudo directory of the file descriptors of that process.  ONE of
those file descriptors should reveal a temporary file where the
content is cached.

Linux is pretty slick here.  Other POSIX systems and Unix-workalike
systems don't have as much magic exposed under /proc (and now also
/sys).

I hope this helps.

-- R;   <><





On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 09:29, Thomas W. cranston
<cranston.thomas at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 01/09/2011 04:56 PM, William Yang wrote:
>> On Sat, 2011-01-08 at 18:25 -0500, Matt Meinwald wrote:
>>
>>> My guess is it is not on the hard drive at all.  I have seen flash store regular
>>> videos in /tmp.  In more recent versions they seem to be deleting this file
>>> immediately after creating it, but it is still accessible somewhere in
>>> /proc/<PID>/fd/.
>>>
>> That's a secure coding technique to prevent data leakage.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> I attempted to use the same strategy for a streamed video, but the only related
>>> file in there is a socket connection to port 1935, apparently the port for RTMP
>>> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Time_Messaging_Protocol).  If you are really
>>> serious about downloading these streams, it seems you would need to find the url
>>> of the stream and a program that can handle RTMP (some can be found in the link
>>> I provided).
>>>
>>> On 01/08/2011 06:10 PM, jep200404 at columbus.rr.com wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> You wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> I streamed ACL 1/1/11 (Cheap Trick) this week at the Library. It does
>>>>> not show up in tmp. Any idea where they hide it?
>>>>>
>>>> Nope. I do not even know if it is on your hard drive.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Does streaming work different than downloading a You Tube video?
>>>>>
>>>> I do not know.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Where does Austin City Limits hide their stream in my computer?
>>>>>
>>>> Flash considers users to be the scum of the earth.
>>>> I expect that PBS (not Austin City Limits) has decided
>>>> to make saving the stream difficult. Search for flash in
>>>> add-ons for Mozilla/IceWeasel. Try the different downloaders.
>>>>
>>>> Here's something to try.
>>>>
>>>> Before going to the web site for the video, execute:
>>>>
>>>>     man find
>>>>     find />before.files
>>>>
>>>> As you are watching the video, execute:
>>>>
>>>>     find />while.files
>>>>
>>>> The compare them:
>>>>
>>>>     man diff
>>>>     diff before.files while.files | less
>>>>
>>>> Jim
>>>>
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>>>
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>>
> What is /<PID> , or what does it mean? Process ID? Does that mean I
> should look in /proc/1 thru /proc/tty?
>
> tom at 1520:~$ cd /proc/<PID>/fd/
> bash: PID: No such file or directory
> tom at 1520:~$ cd /proc/<PID>/
> bash: PID: No such file or directory
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