How to kill what can't be killed ?

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di98jgu

How to kill what can't be killed ?

Post by di98jgu »

Hey

How to stop rough processes under Gloira?

Programs that dies or stop function properly may leave processes behind that can't be killed by any means. Not even the supposable unblockable kill kill command works. Since I also run a non Ubuntu based system (VectorLinux) I know that this issue is Ubuntu related.

My question is how to deal with this kind of rough processes? Is it possible to make the kill kill command really kill as it should?

Thanks...
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Kaye

Re: How to kill what can't be killed ?

Post by Kaye »

Can you give an example? The kill command has never failed for me.
di98jgu

Re: How to kill what can't be killed ?

Post by di98jgu »

Kaye wrote:
Can you give an example? The kill command has never failed for me.
The problem is not connected to any particular program or even Gloria. I used Kubuntu earlier with same issue.

Last time it happens for me it was Nautilus who left behind a process that ignored any attempt to kill it.
Missed
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Re: How to kill what can't be killed ?

Post by Missed »

Could you please explain "kill kill"?

I am familiar with "kill", and "killall", but "kill kill" confuses me!
red-e-made
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Re: How to kill what can't be killed ?

Post by red-e-made »

More helpfully, could you take a screenshot of your System Monitor and show us what these immortal processes are?
di98jgu

Re: How to kill what can't be killed ?

Post by di98jgu »

Missed wrote:
Could you please explain "kill kill"?

I am familiar with "kill", and "killall", but "kill kill" confuses me!
Sorry, meant sending signal 9 SIGKILL to the process. It should be unblockable but under Ubuntu this is not the case.

red-e-made wrote:
More helpfully, could you take a screenshot of your System Monitor and show us what these immortal processes are?
[/qutoe]
Would like to do that but the problem is not related to any particular kind of process and I can't generate the problem by will. I simply don't know why it happens just that it do.

The only solution is to shutdown the system and this might not even work due the rough process. The system ends up waiting for the process to finish. Manual reset is then the only option as far as I know.
RedWagon

Re: How to kill what can't be killed ?

Post by RedWagon »

Are you talking about zombie processes? I don't think those can be killed, but they don't take up any resources anyway so it shouldn't be a problem.

I just checked and I have a zombie claws-mail thread that can't be removed with sudo kill -9 but it's not doing anything and Claws Mail still works.
di98jgu

Re: How to kill what can't be killed ?

Post by di98jgu »

Hmmm....

I would have guessed that this was a rather well known issue. But as it looks this not the case. So lets tackle this with a different angel.

If I get a rough process as described above, how do I analyse it?

The process table identify the process but does not explain why it can't be terminated. My question is what should I next? How do I find more information? A good place to start, I guess, is in the process folder (/proc/xxxx) but where do I look and for what? Since the process may not be the problem it self but merely a sign of a deeper problem how do I do then?

The problem I have with rough processes is mainly:
  • It may stop one from using an application. It can't be started again.
  • It may take so much of the system resources that the system can no longer be used.
  • It may prevent the system shutting down properly forcing manual reset.
In short I usually ends up having to shutdown the system manually. It may sounds like I complaining a lot but this not the case. I do run Linux because I like it but there is problems like in any other OS.

Thanks for any ideas...
red-e-made
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Re: How to kill what can't be killed ?

Post by red-e-made »

Not to sound like a broken record: I know you can't will it to happen, but if the next time this happens you could take a screenshot of the Processes tab of your System Monitor, that could go a long way in getting to the root of this problem.
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