I discovered a minor issue with `git fetch`.

I discovered a minor issue with `git fetch`.

[SURA]

Hello everyone

The child processes spawned by `git fetch` can become zombie processes.
In most scenarios, these zombie processes are reaped by Process 1, so
this typically doesn't cause any problems.

However, within a Docker container, the application service itself is
sometimes designated as Process 1 (for instance, a service written in
Go). Since these application services lack the capability to reap
zombie processes, the zombies will gradually exhaust the available PID
resources.

Here are the simple steps to reproduce this issue:
1. `git clone https://github.com/SURA907/pid-1.git`
2. `cd pid-1`
3. `docker build -t pid-1 .`
4. `docker run -d --name pid-1 pid-1:latest`
5. `docker exec -it pid-1 /bin/bash`
6. `mkdir repo && cd repo && git init --bare`
7. `ps -ef`
------
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
root 1 0 0 07:16 ? 00:00:00 tail -f /dev/null
root 7 0 0 07:16 pts/0 00:00:00 /bin/bash
root 13 0 0 07:16 pts/1 00:00:00 /bin/bash
root 29 7 0 07:17 pts/0 00:00:00 ps -ef
------

8. `git fetch https://github.com/git/git.git`
9. `ps -ef` (Run this command from a separate terminal session
connected to the container)
------
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
root 1 0 0 07:16 ? 00:00:00 tail -f /dev/null
root 7 0 0 07:16 pts/0 00:00:00 /bin/bash
root 13 0 0 07:16 pts/1 00:00:00 /bin/bash
root 30 13 1 07:17 pts/1 00:00:00 git fetch https://github.com/git/git.git
root 31 30 0 07:17 pts/1 00:00:00 /usr/local/libexec/git-core/git
remote-https https://github.com/git/git.git
https://github.com/git/git.git
root 32 31 2 07:17 pts/1 00:00:00
/usr/local/libexec/git-core/git-remote-https
https://github.com/git/git.git https://github.com/git/git.git
root 36 30 30 07:17 pts/1 00:00:00 /usr/local/libexec/git-core/git
index-pack --stdin -v --fix-thin --keep=fetch-pack 30 on sura-pc
--pack_header=2,399455
root 38 7 0 07:17 pts/0 00:00:00 ps -ef
------

10. ps -ef (after fetch ends)
------
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
root 1 0 0 07:16 ? 00:00:00 tail -f /dev/null
root 7 0 0 07:16 pts/0 00:00:00 /bin/bash
root 13 0 0 07:16 pts/1 00:00:00 /bin/bash
root 52 1 0 07:19 ? 00:00:00 [git] <defunct>
root 53 7 0 07:19 pts/0 00:00:00 ps -ef
------

A zombie process has appeared. It appears to originate from a `fetch`
subprocess that terminates very quickly; despite several attempts, I
have been unable to successfully capture it.

This issue was discovered within a legacy service. A few days after
upgrading to Git 2.53.0, the system's PID resources were exhausted by
zombie processes. This is likely the result of recent changes, as this
problem did not exist in earlier versions (2.4x).

To be honest, this is not an urgent matter; I have already deployed
`tini` as the init process (PID 1) to prevent the service from
becoming unavailable.

Re: I discovered a minor issue with `git fetch`.

[Ben Knoble]

> Le 22 mai 2026 à 03:48, SURA <surak8806@gmail.com> a écrit :
> 
> Hello everyone
> 
> The child processes spawned by `git fetch` can become zombie processes.
> In most scenarios, these zombie processes are reaped by Process 1, so
> this typically doesn't cause any problems.
> 
> However, within a Docker container, the application service itself is
> sometimes designated as Process 1 (for instance, a service written in
> Go). Since these application services lack the capability to reap
> zombie processes, the zombies will gradually exhaust the available PID
> resources.

See also lore.kernel.org/git/202602231615147.3294516-1-cshung@gmail.com and subsequent discussion for related material.

> 
> Here are the simple steps to reproduce this issue:
> 1. `git clone https://github.com/SURA907/pid-1.git`
> 2. `cd pid-1`
> 3. `docker build -t pid-1 .`
> 4. `docker run -d --name pid-1 pid-1:latest`
> 5. `docker exec -it pid-1 /bin/bash`
> 6. `mkdir repo && cd repo && git init --bare`
> 7. `ps -ef`
> ------
> UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
> root 1 0 0 07:16 ? 00:00:00 tail -f /dev/null
> root 7 0 0 07:16 pts/0 00:00:00 /bin/bash
> root 13 0 0 07:16 pts/1 00:00:00 /bin/bash
> root 29 7 0 07:17 pts/0 00:00:00 ps -ef
> ------
> 
> 8. `git fetch https://github.com/git/git.git`
> 9. `ps -ef` (Run this command from a separate terminal session
> connected to the container)
> ------
> UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
> root 1 0 0 07:16 ? 00:00:00 tail -f /dev/null
> root 7 0 0 07:16 pts/0 00:00:00 /bin/bash
> root 13 0 0 07:16 pts/1 00:00:00 /bin/bash
> root 30 13 1 07:17 pts/1 00:00:00 git fetch https://github.com/git/git.git
> root 31 30 0 07:17 pts/1 00:00:00 /usr/local/libexec/git-core/git
> remote-https https://github.com/git/git.git
> https://github.com/git/git.git
> root 32 31 2 07:17 pts/1 00:00:00
> /usr/local/libexec/git-core/git-remote-https
> https://github.com/git/git.git https://github.com/git/git.git
> root 36 30 30 07:17 pts/1 00:00:00 /usr/local/libexec/git-core/git
> index-pack --stdin -v --fix-thin --keep=fetch-pack 30 on sura-pc
> --pack_header=2,399455
> root 38 7 0 07:17 pts/0 00:00:00 ps -ef
> ------
> 
> 10. ps -ef (after fetch ends)
> ------
> UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
> root 1 0 0 07:16 ? 00:00:00 tail -f /dev/null
> root 7 0 0 07:16 pts/0 00:00:00 /bin/bash
> root 13 0 0 07:16 pts/1 00:00:00 /bin/bash
> root 52 1 0 07:19 ? 00:00:00 [git] <defunct>
> root 53 7 0 07:19 pts/0 00:00:00 ps -ef
> ------
> 
> A zombie process has appeared. It appears to originate from a `fetch`
> subprocess that terminates very quickly; despite several attempts, I
> have been unable to successfully capture it.
> 
> This issue was discovered within a legacy service. A few days after
> upgrading to Git 2.53.0, the system's PID resources were exhausted by
> zombie processes. This is likely the result of recent changes, as this
> problem did not exist in earlier versions (2.4x).
> 
> To be honest, this is not an urgent matter; I have already deployed
> `tini` as the init process (PID 1) to prevent the service from
> becoming unavailable.
> 

Re: I discovered a minor issue with `git fetch`.

[brian m. carlson]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1474 bytes --]

On 2026-05-22 at 07:45:25, SURA wrote:
> Hello everyone
> 
> The child processes spawned by `git fetch` can become zombie processes.
> In most scenarios, these zombie processes are reaped by Process 1, so
> this typically doesn't cause any problems.
> 
> However, within a Docker container, the application service itself is
> sometimes designated as Process 1 (for instance, a service written in
> Go). Since these application services lack the capability to reap
> zombie processes, the zombies will gradually exhaust the available PID
> resources.
> This issue was discovered within a legacy service. A few days after
>
> upgrading to Git 2.53.0, the system's PID resources were exhausted by
> zombie processes. This is likely the result of recent changes, as this
> problem did not exist in earlier versions (2.4x).
> 
> To be honest, this is not an urgent matter; I have already deployed
> `tini` as the init process (PID 1) to prevent the service from
> becoming unavailable.

While there has been some discussion about this on the list in the
recent past, using something like tini is the right move in the general
case.  There are a variety of programs which might daemonize a
background process for whatever reason and those will necessarily
require an init process to reap children.  It's considered a standard
requirement that PID 1 has that ability and Git doesn't provide it.
-- 
brian m. carlson (they/them)
Toronto, Ontario, CA

[-- Attachment #2: signature.asc --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 325 bytes --]