ps command displays UID instead of username

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 4
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 1

Situation

Output of ps command is only displaying the UID for one specific user, rather than their full username.

Sample:

root           1446     1         0 Jun09 ?        00:00:01 [kjournald]
root           1449     1         0 Jun09 ?        00:00:00 [kjournald]
daemon    1577     1         0 00:00 ?        00:00:01 /usr/sbin/slpd
root           1636     1         0 Jun09 ?        00:00:00 /sbin/resmgrd
11032         1645 17252     0 10:10 ?          00:00:00 dscs 4 0 0
11032         1646 1645    0 10:10 ?        00:00:08 dsapi_slave 7 6 0

Resolution

This is known behavior across Linux distributions. Usernames longer than 8 characters exceed the allowed length of the output column for ps, and as such, the command only returns the UID for the user.

Disclaimer

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