Retrieve system information on MacOS X? [closed]

Question

Using C++ is there anyway I could get basic information about the computer? For example is there a way I could check how much memory is being used (by the whole computer not just my computer), the total memory available, virtual memory usage, CPU usage, networks stats and so on?

I am using Mac OS X Snow Leopard but I would prefer a solution that could be implemented for all Mac OSs (i.e. Lion)

Answer 1

For system-wide memory usage information under MacOS/X, open and read the file /usr/bin/vm_stat, something like this:

static double ParseMemValue(const char * b)
{
   while((*b)&&(isdigit(*b) == false)) b++;
   return isdigit(*b) ? atof(b) : -1.0;
}

// Returns a number between 0.0f and 1.0f, with 0.0f meaning all RAM is available, and 1.0f meaning all RAM is currently in use
float GetSystemMemoryUsagePercentage()
{
   FILE * fpIn = popen("/usr/bin/vm_stat", "r");
   if (fpIn)
   {
      double pagesUsed = 0.0, totalPages = 0.0;
      char buf[512];
      while(fgets(buf, sizeof(buf), fpIn) != NULL)
      {
         if (strncmp(buf, "Pages", 5) == 0)
         {
            double val = ParseMemValue(buf);
            if (val >= 0.0)
            {
               if ((strncmp(buf, "Pages wired", 11) == 0)||(strncmp(buf, "Pages active", 12) == 0)) pagesUsed += val;
               totalPages += val;
            }
         }
         else if (strncmp(buf, "Mach Virtual Memory Statistics", 30) != 0) break;  // Stop at "Translation Faults", we don't care about anything at or below that
      }
      pclose(fpIn);

      if (totalPages > 0.0) return (float) (pagesUsed/totalPages);
   }
   return -1.0f;  // indicate failure
}

For a CPU usage indicator, do something like this:

#include <mach/mach_init.h>
#include <mach/mach_error.h>
#include <mach/mach_host.h>
#include <mach/vm_map.h>

static unsigned long long _previousTotalTicks = 0;
static unsigned long long _previousIdleTicks = 0;

// Returns 1.0f for "CPU fully pinned", 0.0f for "CPU idle", or somewhere in between
// You'll need to call this at regular intervals, since it measures the load between
// the previous call and the current one.
float GetCPULoad()
{
   host_cpu_load_info_data_t cpuinfo;
   mach_msg_type_number_t count = HOST_CPU_LOAD_INFO_COUNT;
   if (host_statistics(mach_host_self(), HOST_CPU_LOAD_INFO, (host_info_t)&cpuinfo, &count) == KERN_SUCCESS)
   {
      unsigned long long totalTicks = 0;
      for(int i=0; i<CPU_STATE_MAX; i++) totalTicks += cpuinfo.cpu_ticks[i];
      return CalculateCPULoad(cpuinfo.cpu_ticks[CPU_STATE_IDLE], totalTicks);
   }
   else return -1.0f;
}

float CalculateCPULoad(unsigned long long idleTicks, unsigned long long totalTicks)
{
  unsigned long long totalTicksSinceLastTime = totalTicks-_previousTotalTicks;
  unsigned long long idleTicksSinceLastTime  = idleTicks-_previousIdleTicks;
  float ret = 1.0f-((totalTicksSinceLastTime > 0) ? ((float)idleTicksSinceLastTime)/totalTicksSinceLastTime : 0);
  _previousTotalTicks = totalTicks;
  _previousIdleTicks  = idleTicks;
  return ret;
}

For network statistics, I don't know the solution (other than maybe to run netstat and parse the results somehow... it depends on what network statistics you are interested in I suppose).

Answer 2

First off if you are focusing on Mac OS only, then the language of choice should be Objective - C.

Steps you need to follow

1. Learn Obj-C, not really that hard, i come from a c++ background myself and after a few weeks of working on the platform with this language i became rather fluent
2. Check the Mac OSX developer Library : Mac OS X Developer Library
3. Check out this
4. And this