Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!uwvax!rutgers!bpa!cbmvax!vu-vlsi!devon!chessene!root
From: root@chessene.UUCP (This System)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Night of the Living Dead Processes
Keywords: brains!
Message-ID: <314@chessene.UUCP>
Date: 22 Jan 89 20:03:11 GMT
References: <10927@s.ms.uky.edu>
Reply-To: hermit@chessene.UUCP (Mark Buda)
Organization: Competitive Computer Systems, Lancaster PA
Lines: 20

In article <10927@s.ms.uky.edu> sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) writes:
[edited for television]
-I'm having problems with Zombies...
 
-Unfortunately, the programs in question have one or more INET sockets
-open, and the child inherits the descriptors. When the child exits, some
-part of the connection hangs, and the child wakes from the dead, goes out,
-and eats brains. That is, it becomes <defunct>.

Are you doing a wait() in the parent process? (It wasn't in the code fragment.)
If the process is <defunct>, then it's waiting to be waited for. If the problem
were the sockets not being closed, then the process would be <exiting>.

I might have my brain screwed in backwards today, but I'm pretty sure I haven't
gotten them mixed up.

--
Mark Buda                                Domain: hermit@chessene.uucp
Dumb: ...rutgers!bpa!vu-vlsi!devon!chessene!hermit
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