Bug 3373 – 'exec' feature creates zombie processes

Bugzilla will be upgraded to version 5.0. The upgrade date is tentatively scheduled for 2 December 2018, pending final testing and feedback.

Bug 3373 - 'exec' feature creates zombie processes

Summary:	'exec' feature creates zombie processes

Status:	CLOSED NEXTRELEASE

Aliases:	None

Product:	Red Hat Linux
Classification:	Retired
Component:	swatch (Show other bugs)
Sub Component:
Version:	6.0
Hardware:	All Linux

Priority	high Severity high
Target Milestone:	---
Target Release:	---
Assigned To:	Preston Brown
QA Contact:
Docs Contact:

URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:

Depends On:
Blocks:
	Show dependency tree / graph

Reported:	1999-06-09 16:51 EDT by rotten
Modified:	2008-05-01 11:37 EDT (History)
CC List:	0 users

See Also:
Fixed In Version:
Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points:	---
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed:	1999-08-31 13:22:21 EDT
Type:	---
Regression:	---
Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---
CRM:
Verified Versions:
Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---
RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---

Attachments	(Terms of Use)
Add an attachment (proposed patch, testcase, etc.)

Groups: None (edit)

Description rotten 1999-06-09 16:51:04 EDT

When using the 'exec=command' feature in the 2nd
tab-deliminated field of the ~/.swatchrc, the command
executed does not terminate properly when it is finished--
it becomes a zombie process, every time (this has been
tested using such innocuous commands as 'exec=echo').

When swatch is triggered enough times, the zombie processes
build up, eventually filling the process table and thus
requiring a reboot.

Comment 1 Alan Cox 1999-06-12 11:19:59 EDT

You can clear the zombies by killing their parent. So killing swatch
will clean up the stuff it fails to wait for.
(Not a fix but avoids reboots)


------- Additional Comments From   06/12/99 12:44 -------
Not to split hairs, but I think it is worth noting that killing swatch
will not successfully clean up the zombie processes, nor prevent more
from being spawned... it is necessary to kill perl itself.
And a side note-- this bug is particularly detrimental on unattended
machines, since killing perl isn't an option in that situation.

Comment 2 Jay Turner 1999-06-29 11:10:59 EDT

This issue has been forwarded to a developer for further action.

Comment 3 Preston Brown 1999-08-31 13:22:59 EDT

fixed in swatch-2.2-8 and later, available soon in RawHide and
eventually our next release.

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.