Record High Load Average

[David C Lawrence]

In article <16202 at sequent.UUCP> rbk at sequent.UUCP (Bob Beck) offers a
method for driving up the load average of vfork.  I tried a modified
version of his suggestion which is very simple, drives the load
average up and steps back down.  Simple perhaps isn't a good
enough word -- the header is as long as the programme.  Quite an
amusing thing to spring on an unsuspecting soul.  It of course shows
up in ps, but a couple of minutes of work could make it very
mysterious.  Load metres love it, too. :-)

/*                               -*- Mode: C -*- 
 * upload.c --- Tom-foolery for the load average
 * Author          : David C Lawrence
 * Created On      : Thu May 18 14:52:26 1989
 * Last Modified By: David C Lawrence
 * Last Modified On: Thu May 18 14:56:52 1989
 * Update Count    : 1
 * Status          : sinister
 */

#include <vfork.h>

int main()

{
  int forks=0;

  while (forks < 32) {
    (void)vfork();
    forks++;
  }
  sleep(20);
  _exit(0);
}
--
 (setq mail '("tale at pawl.rpi.edu" "tale at itsgw.rpi.edu" "tale at rpitsmts.bitnet"))
 (error "UUCP not spoken here.  Long bang paths unlikely to get mail replies.")