unix "top" load average numbers mean what?
on the first line of output from the program "top" in a unix top there is a stat "load average" followed by 3 numbers. (here is a sample from my box)
top - 18:49:18 up 2 days, 8:25, 13 users, load average: 1.53, 0.77, 0.53
I think that these numbers represent how many threads are waiting in the Que to be scheduled for the CPU, but I'm not even that sure about that. I'm pretty sure that in general its bad for any of them to be much above 1, and represents the system choking on to much work.
I would like to know exactly what each of these numbers represent. Its not in the man page, and I'm having a bit of trouble googleing for it because "top" isn't a very good search word.
any answers would be quite welcome. Its something that I have used for a long time with a vague intuitive knowledge for a while and never really thought about until recently. I asked a few of my more knowledgeable flesh-friends, and they didn't seen to know either.
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