zombie

[SSP_1]

Hi,

Would like to know about the zombie processes. Could I kill all the processes which are shown by "ps -aef | grep defunct" which I believe are the zombie ones.

[Robin Wakefield]

Hi,

zombie processes are already dead, they just haven't been removed from the process table. Try killing the parent if it is not the init process, and is valid. Depending on the reason why they haven't died automatically, you may have to leave them until the system is rebooted.

Rgds, Robin.

[Roger Baptiste]

hi,

You can't kill a zombie, because it is already dead. The only reason why it still shows up in the ps listing is because it occupies an pid entry in the process table and was unable to release it for some reason (could be anything from a broken application, a haywire program..).

Since it does not load the system in any way, you can leave it alone. The next reboot will clear the entries.

HTH
raj

[Paula J Frazer-Campbell]

Hi

As Robin has said you cannot kill a Zombie because it is already dead - hence the name Zombie.

A kill of the parent process may get rig of the zombie, but check first what the parent process is.

What normally happens is that the Zombie ends up with a parent process of 1 -- Do Not kill that one.

A Reboot will get rid of zombies but unless you have lots and they are consuming a great amount of cpu then just leave them.

HTH

Paula