Project: Ghost in the RAM

Purpose

A poetic data analysis that treats the longest-running user processes as ‘ghosts’ haunting the machine’s memory, generating a surreal séance log via ASCII art.

Output

An ASCII art banner and a surreal log generated in ghost_in_the_ram.txt.

Terminal capture of the overnight run is embedded above.

Source

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import os
import subprocess
try:
    import pyfiglet
except ImportError:
    pass

def get_ancient_processes():
    try:
        output = subprocess.check_output(['ps', '-eo', 'pid,etimes,comm', '--sort', '-etimes']).decode('utf-8')
        lines = output.strip().split('\n')[1:]
        processes = []
        for line in lines:
            parts = line.split()
            if len(parts) >= 3:
                pid, etimes, comm = parts[0], int(parts[1]), " ".join(parts[2:])
                if '[' in comm or comm in ['systemd', 'init', 'kthreadd']:
                    continue
                processes.append((pid, etimes, comm))
        return processes[:5]
    except Exception:
        return []

def run():
    try:
        banner = pyfiglet.figlet_format("GHOST IN THE RAM", font="cyberlarge")
    except:
        banner = "GHOST IN THE RAM\n================\n"
        
    ancients = get_ancient_processes()
    
    with open("ghost_in_the_ram.txt", "w") as f:
        f.write(banner)
        f.write("\n\n=== A DIGITAL SEANCE ===\n\n")
        f.write("In the silence of the CPU cycles, these phantom processes remain:\n\n")
        
        if ancients:
            for pid, etimes, comm in ancients:
                f.write(f"[{comm}] (PID {pid})\n")
                f.write(f"  Awake for {etimes} seconds.\n")
                f.write(f"  It drifts through virtual memory, clinging to allocated pages.\n")
                f.write(f"  A persistent thought the machine cannot let go of.\n\n")
        else:
            f.write("The memory is perfectly still. No ghosts haunt this machine today.\n")

    with open("summary.md", "w") as f:
        f.write("# Project: Ghost in the RAM\n\n")
        f.write("## Purpose\n")
        f.write("A poetic data analysis that treats the longest-running user processes as 'ghosts' haunting the machine's memory, generating a surreal séance log via ASCII art.\n\n")
        f.write("## Output\n")
        f.write("An ASCII art banner and a surreal log generated in `ghost_in_the_ram.txt`.\n")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    run()

Run output

ps: unrecognized option: sort
BusyBox v1.37.0 (2025-12-16 14:19:28 UTC) multi-call binary.

Usage: ps [-o COL1,COL2=HEADER] [-T]

Show list of processes

	-o COL1,COL2=HEADER	Select columns for display
	-T			Show threads