IsRunningWithContext not independent of wall clock

[joshiste]

Describe the bug
When the system time is adjusted, Process.IsRunning() may return false, despite the process being running.

The process's create time is used for this, but it's converted to wall time when being read, so if the system clock was changed in between (e.g 1h in the future), Process.IsRunning() returns false.

Expected behavior
IsRunning() returns true for running processes even after system time change.

Environment (please complete the following information):

• Linux: [paste contents of /etc/os-release and the result of uname -a]

PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="12"
VERSION="12 (bookworm)"
VERSION_CODENAME=bookworm
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

Linux ip-**-*-**-***.eu-central-1.compute.internal 5.10.233-224.894.amzn2.x86_64 #1 SMP Mon Jan 27 16:52:48 UTC 2025 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[shirou]

When process.EnableBootTimeCache() is not used (which is the default), if the boot time changes, the createTime also changes, causing IsRunning to return false. I see.

The IsRunning() method mimics the behavior of psutil, where the pid is uniquely identified by combining pid and create_time. Since psutil caches create_time, this issue doesn’t occur there.

With this in mind, I’m starting to think it might be a good idea for gopsutil to cache createTime as well.