Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 13:06:43 -0700 (PDT) From: "Chris H" <bsd-lists@bsdforge.com> To: "freebsd-hackers" <hackers@freebsd.org>, "freebsd-stable" <freebsd-stable@freebsd.org> Subject: Process handlers, and zombies, or preap(1) Message-ID: <26dbb84bafaf0114cb75c3fbe060d412.authenticated@ultimatedns.net>
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Greetings, I'm evaluating/experimenting on releng_9. The install, and now custom kernel have noting exotic, or anything out of the ordinary. top(1), and ps(1) indicate a (1) zombie, or <defunct> process. On my releng_8 systems, when I occasionally encounter one of these, they soon disappear (are reaped) from the process table. While I have not investigated this far enough on both versions to determine whether the parent process reaped the child on the releng_8 systems, and the parent on releng_9 is simply an irresponsible parent, eg; a different parent. Before I do, I was wondering if there was any specific difference between the 2 versions that might cause better handling of such situations. While I recognize that resource starvation is HIGHLY unlikely, except by perhaps a rouge parent spawning multitudes of zombies. I thought it might be useful for "housekeeping" to 1) provide a process table housekeeper (zombie reaper), or 2) create a system utility/command like SunOS/OpenSolaris has; preap(1). http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=preap&manpath=SunOS+5.10 Thank you for your time, and consideration. --Chris
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