ptrace requests

The ptrace system call has a libc wrapper like any other system call, so you may include ptrace.h and simply call ptrace while passing it a request and a process ID. The following details are not a replacement for the main pages of ptrace(2), although some descriptions were borrowed from the main pages.

Here's the synopsis:

#include <sys/ptrace.h>
long ptrace(enum __ptrace_request request, pid_t pid,
void *addr, void *data);

ptrace request types

Here is a list of requests that are most commonly used when using ptrace to interact with a process image:

Request	Description
PTRACE_ATTACH	Attach to the process specified in pid, making it a tracee of the calling process. The tracee is sent a SIGSTOP signal, but will not necessarily have stopped by the completion of this call. Use waitpid(2) to wait for the tracee to stop.
PTRACE_TRACEME	Indicates that this process is to be traced by its parent. A process probably shouldn't make this request if its parent isn't expecting...