A few platforms have other mechanisms to retrieve this information which do not require direct access to these devices, and top will utilize such mechanism on systems where they are available. Compilation and Installation Top comes with a configuration script called Configure . This script has been developed specifically for top. It will prompt for various pieces of information, then create the needed files for successful compilation. After successfully running Configure, the command make can be used to compile the program.
Installation usually needs to be done by root.
Top is very sensitive to changes in the data structures maintained by the kernel. Typically an executable created under one version of the operating system will not run successfully on any other version. When a machine is upgraded to a newer version of the operating system, top should be recompiled and reinstalled. Mirror sites have been established to provide for a wider distribution of new versions as they become available. The download section has details on how one can obtain the source package for top.