Re: [patch] Re: Problem with exiting threads under NPTL

Linus Torvalds
2003-12-15T15:11:38Z

On Sun, 14 Dec 2003, dan carpenter wrote:
>
> I'm running the patch from BK and I still get unkillable zombies.

Note that zombies are normal, and yes, they are _always_ unkillable.
That's why they are called zombies ;)

The only way to get rid of a zombie is to reap it with "wait()", or just
have the parent die (at which point init will do so).

Your case looks like the parent isn't waiting for the zombie, mostly
because the parent is stopped:

> mknod09 T 00000001 0 1403 1 1420 1394 (NOTLB)

and that is easy to make happen with strace if you don't detach from the
thing you are tracing.

You can fix it up by just a "killall -CONT mknod09", and once the parent
continues it will reap the zombie.

Linus