Re: Killing a zombie process?

[Brian Buhrow <buhrow%nfbcal.org@localhost>]

	Hello.  Did you mistype, did I misread or did you really mean to say
that the parent pid (ppid) is 0 on the offending zombie process?  that
could be a clue.  The ppid should be 1, not 0.  I wonder how, if that is
the case, the ppid of 0 gets assigned instead of 1?
-thanks
-Brian

On Sep 30,  3:55pm, Paul Goyette wrote:
} Subject: Re: Killing a zombie process?
} On Wed, 30 Sep 2015, Paul Goyette wrote:
} 
} >> # kill -HUP 1
} >> # ps axl | grep ' Z '
} >>   0 27237     1     0   0  0       0      0 -       Z    pts/2- 0:00.00 
} >> (sh)
} >
} > Well, it happened again!
} >
} > I rebooted earlier today, and then deinstalled and rebuilt about 40
} > packages within the pkgsrc/sysutils/mksandbox environment (all with
} > MAKE_JOBS=3 enabled).  After all packages were rebuilt, I exit from
} > the sandbox and run ./sandbox/dismount and get the error
} >
} > 	umount: /sandbox/bin: Device busy
} >
} > Sure enough, there's a new Zombie process, and its parent seems to be
} > init  (PPID==0)
} >
} > 	# ps axl | grep ' Z '
} > 	   0 23848 2812    0  85  0   4360    164 pipe_rd R+   pts/2  0:00.00 
} > grep  Z
} > 	   0 25439    1    0   0  0      0      0 -       Z    pts/2  0:00.00 
} > (sh)
} >
} > HUPing init still doesn't help.
} >
} > So, I'm pretty sure that there's a bug somewhere, but haven't a clue
} > on where  to start looking.
} 
} Interestingly, if I shutdown to single-user mode, the zombie process 
} gets reaped and disappears!
} 
} So there must be some difference in how init(8) waits during normal 
} operation and how it waits during the transition to single-user.
} 
} 
} 
} +------------------+--------------------------+-------------------------+
} | Paul Goyette     | PGP Key fingerprint:     | E-mail addresses:       |
} | (Retired)        | FA29 0E3B 35AF E8AE 6651 | paul at whooppee.com    |
} | Kernel Developer | 0786 F758 55DE 53BA 7731 | pgoyette at netbsd.org  |
} +------------------+--------------------------+-------------------------+
>-- End of excerpt from Paul Goyette