It's always writeable. But ps doesn't necessarily look at the process's
memory space to get the arguments, as that is usually complex (is it
swapped?) and always slow. System V-derived Unixes store some part (usually
the first 80 characters) of the original command line in the ublock to make
ps faster, at the price of some magic required (if it's possible at all) to
change that saved command line.
-- brandon s. allbery [os/2][linux][solaris][japh] allbery@kf8nh.apk.net system administrator [WAY too many hats] allbery@ece.cmu.edu carnegie mellon / electrical and computer engineering KF8NH Kiss my bits, Billy-boy.
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