Linux - NewbieThis Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question?
If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
A shell script of mine which runs on a regular basis appears not to exit properly; if I run ps -e, I see more than a dozen instances of it marked as <defunct>. I don't suppose it matters as they don't appear to be using CPU or memory, but still I suspect it must be something fairly simple to fix.
Adding "exit" at the bottom of the script has no effect. What else could it be?
Defunct processes (also called zombies) are the result of a process dying, but not being "reaped" by the parent process. To reap defunct processes, the parent process must call wait. See 'man bash' or the man page for whatever shell you are using.
I am experiencing the same problem. Does anyone have an idea as to what causes a script to go into a 'defunct' state? My script is running off cron and the only way I am able to terminate it is by stopping the cron daemon.
If your shell script has capability of forking the process, then this problem will occur..Normally the child process can only be killed/terminated by the parent process. But if the parent process got killed due to some reason, then the child process cannot be killed unless recieving a kill signal from parent, so this will never happen and the child becomes zombie.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.