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#1 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 05:10 AM

Does anyone know how to check all the processes of a defunct process?
I would like to see what program, application, etc actually owned the
process that's now defunct. I know there's a way in SUN but not sure
in AIX.

Thanks

#2 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 05:10 AM

Quite simple on AIX 5.x : look at the content of the directory
/proc/PID_NUMBER ... The few informations that are there are
the only you can have, as "defunct processes" did release their
resources.

Ken a écrit:
>
> Does anyone know how to check all the processes of a defunct process?
> I would like to see what program, application, etc actually owned the
> process that's now defunct. I know there's a way in SUN but not sure
> in AIX.
>
> Thanks

#3 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 05:10 AM

On 2004-11-12, Ken <ucstyle@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Does anyone know how to check all the processes of a defunct process?
> I would like to see what program, application, etc actually owned the
> process that's now defunct. I know there's a way in SUN but not sure
> in AIX.

I'm not 100% sure, but doesn't the PPID of a zombie remain available? If so,
you can just check with 'ps' which process is the current parent of the
zombie.

Note that this might not give the results you expect: if a process spawns
a lot of zombies and then exits itself, the zombies get re-parented to
the (innocent) parent process of the zombie-spawning process. So this process
now has zombies, but isn't responsible for them. When the zombies eventually
get reparented to init, they are periodically reaped.

--
Jurjen Oskam
"I often reflect that if "privileges" had been called "responsibilities" or
"duties", I would have saved thousands of hours explaining to people why
they were only gonna get them over my dead body." - Lee K. Gleason, VMS sysadmin

#4 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 05:14 AM

Jurjen Oskam <joskam@quadpro.stupendous.org> wrote in
news:slrncpbhhf.fef.joskam@calvin.stupendous.org:

> On 2004-11-12, Ken <ucstyle@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Does anyone know how to check all the processes of a defunct process?
>> I would like to see what program, application, etc actually owned the
>> process that's now defunct. I know there's a way in SUN but not sure
>> in AIX.
>
> I'm not 100% sure, but doesn't the PPID of a zombie remain available?
Yes.

> If so, you can just check with 'ps' which process is the current
> parent of the zombie.
>
> Note that this might not give the results you expect: if a process
> spawns a lot of zombies and then exits itself, the zombies get
> re-parented to the (innocent) parent process of the zombie-spawning
> process.

There are no inocents. Any process that spawns sub-processes must set a
handler to SIGCHILD to reap them as they die.

> So this process now has zombies, but isn't responsible for
> them.
It may not have launched them direcly, but when they got reparented they
should have been reaped.

> When the zombies eventually get reparented to init, they are
> periodically reaped.
Unless someone messed up /etc/inittab :-)

--
Doing AIX support was the most monty-pythonesque
activity available at the time.
Eagerly awaiting my thin chocolat mint.

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