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From: bet@ecsvax.UUCP (Bennett E. Todd III)
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re: Timed self-destruct (for debugging programs that hang)
Message-ID: <1031@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 7-Jan-86 11:57:40 EST
Article-I.D.: ecsvax.1031
Posted: Tue Jan  7 11:57:40 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Jan-86 03:02:36 EST
References: <952@ecsvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: bet@ecsvax.UUCP (Bennett E. Todd III)
Distribution: net
Organization: Duke University Computation Center
Lines: 29


Well, I got a few helpful responses. I appreciate everyone's forbearance
with such ugly code.

I got suggestions for good tricks to play with adb, for ways to refine
the program I wrote, and other such tips. However, the real kicker comes from:
	Stephen Samuel
	{ihnp4,ubc-visi}!alberta!uofa-mts!stephen_samuel

who gets the prize for cleverest hack of the bunch:

( sleep 120 ; kill -9 $$ ) &
exec $*

His explanation is succinct:

"What it does is have the kill delete the primary process, which is then
replaced with the real intended program. Note that this also results in
a mimimum of extra procsses and NO temporary files."

Hat's off. I guess this illustrates the basic nature of UNIX; there is
generally only one correct way to do a thing, and many many wrong ways,
most of which will occur to you before the right one.

-Bennett
-- 

Bennett Todd -- Duke Computation Center, Durham, NC 27706-7756; (919) 684-3695
UUCP: ...{decvax,seismo,philabs,ihnp4,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!duccpc!bet