Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 16:55:07 +0200 (SAT) From: John Hay <jhay@mikom.csir.co.za> To: pb@fasterix.frmug.org (Pierre Beyssac) Cc: freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: kern/5236 Message-ID: <199804201455.QAA10853@zibbi.mikom.csir.co.za> In-Reply-To: <19980420105446.AG32944@mars.hsc.fr> from Pierre Beyssac at "Apr 20, 98 10:54:46 am"
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> According to Poul-Henning Kamp: > > Well, first: zombies are signs of programming errors in the parent > > process. > > System utilities (and kernel) shouldn't depend on correct user processes > programming to work reliably. > > > Second: ps doesn't give an atomic snapshot of the system, > > so it isn't an accurate view of system resources. > > Even though they are supposed to be updated atomically, the problem > is most certainly with kernel tables, ps only reflects this. I assume > top would, too, but I haven't tried it (hence the filing of my > PR in the "kern" category). > > > Third: since it > > isn't scheduled none of those awful things will happen. > > Should I understand that you would estimate the problem unsolved > if the system wasted in the name of zombies processes all the CPU > ps says they use ? By the way, what makes you think it doesn't since > you don't rely on ps ? :-) > > > Fourth: If > > you had included a patch for ps things would probably happen :-) > > Thanks, I take this to mean there's a tiny possibility my PR is not totally > useless :-), so I'll give it a try. If you work on it, just remember not to break wait(2) and its derivatives. John -- John Hay -- John.Hay@mikom.csir.co.za To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-bugs" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199804201455.QAA10853>