Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S261817AbUKCT3W (ORCPT ); Wed, 3 Nov 2004 14:29:22 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S261833AbUKCTZp (ORCPT ); Wed, 3 Nov 2004 14:25:45 -0500 Received: from ns9.hostinglmi.net ([213.194.149.146]:61056 "EHLO ns9.hostinglmi.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S261817AbUKCTYO (ORCPT ); Wed, 3 Nov 2004 14:24:14 -0500 Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2004 20:26:48 +0100 From: DervishD To: Gene Heskett Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, =?iso-8859-1?Q?M=E5ns_Rullg=E5rd?= Subject: Re: is killing zombies possible w/o a reboot? Message-ID: <20041103192648.GA23274@DervishD> Mail-Followup-To: Gene Heskett , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, =?iso-8859-1?Q?M=E5ns_Rullg=E5rd?= References: <200411030751.39578.gene.heskett@verizon.net> <200411031147.14179.gene.heskett@verizon.net> <20041103174459.GA23015@DervishD> <200411031353.39468.gene.heskett@verizon.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit In-Reply-To: <200411031353.39468.gene.heskett@verizon.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.1i Organization: DervishD X-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information X-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - ns9.hostinglmi.net X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - vger.kernel.org X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [0 0] / [47 12] X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - dervishd.net X-Source: X-Source-Args: X-Source-Dir: Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1423 Lines: 32 Hi Gene :) * Gene Heskett dixit: > > Then the children are reparented to 'init' and 'init' gets rid > > of them. That's the way UNIX behaves. > Unforch, I've *never* had it work that way. Any dead process I've > ever had while running linux has only been disposable by a reboot. Well, you know, shit happens... Anyway, could you define 'dead'? Because if you're talking about zombies whose parent dies, they're killable easily: just wait until init reaps them (usually in less than 5 minutes since they dead). If you are talking about zombies who has their parent alive, then it's a bug in the application, not the kernel. In fact I wouldn't like if the kernel reaps my children before I do, just in case I want to do something. If you're talking about unkillable processes (those stuck in disk-sleep state), you're right: only rebooting can kill them (although sometimes they go out of D state and die normally). Bad luck for you if any dead process you've ever had while running linux has been of this kind :( Ra?l N??ez de Arenas Coronado -- Linux Registered User 88736 http://www.dervishd.net & http://www.pleyades.net/ - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/