[Octave-bug-tracker] [bug #37591] system with async option results in zombie processes

[Mike Miller]

Follow-up Comment #5, bug #37591 (project octave):

The shell has terminated. The process is no longer running. The only thing
remaining is the operating system bookkeeping of the dead child process that
the parent needs to reap (things like exit or fatal signal status).

When a child process completes, it's done. The shell is no longer running. If
the parent that created the child is still around, it is required to call
wait() on the child to tell the operating system that it can be cleaned up. If
the parent is no longer around, then the child is reparented to the init
process, which in turn calls wait() and cleans up the dead process.

In this case, Octave has started a process, the process has finished, and
Octave is not calling wait() on it. Octave does call wait on children that it
starts synchronously, just not the async ones.

Octave already maintains a table of child processes that are periodically
reaped. If we could arrange for the child process IDs to be taken care of in
the same way, this should take care of itself.

    _______________________________________________________

Reply to this item at:

  <http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?37591>

_______________________________________________
  Message sent via/by Savannah
  http://savannah.gnu.org/