Re: Is it possible to give the user the option to cancel forkbombs?

David Newall
2007-11-22T12:03:27Z

(``-_-´´) -- Fernando wrote:
> I used to see stuff like this happening on my University students test servers. Once they started doing forks inside for(;;), the server would go down.
> Then they replaced the servers by vwmare machines, and now reboots are faster.
>

UNIX (and Linux) already has a feature for use in case of forkbombs,
namely keeping a shell available, at a high priority, from which you
manage a wide range of undesired situations. There isn't, that I know
of, any program which responds to a magic key and does the work, but I
think it can be written without requiring any additional kernel support.