[CALUG] Get rid of pppd zombies?

[Jim Bauer]

On Saturday 26 November 2005 22:58, junekis at comcast.net wrote:
> Sourceforge has a utility called zclean that removes zombie processes///
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/zclean

Well, that may indeed get rid of the zombie, but so would pulling out the 
power cord.  Neither addresses the fundamental problem though.

> > I'm running pppd via exec from my C++ app. When pppd ends it leaves
> > behind a zombie that I haven't been able to get rid of via waitpid.
> > Anyone know how I can get rid of these?
> >
> > Thanks
> > Eldon Ziegler

I suspect you are doing something wrong with your usage of waitpid().
Have you verified that your program is the parent of the zombie?

- When a child dies it will be placed in a zombie state until
its parent does a wait on it (any of the wait variants with
the proper arguments will do).

- However, if the parent had ignored SIGCHLD prior to the child
dieing then the wait will not be necessary.

- A zombie will automatically go away if its parent dies (because
init will inherit the zombie and do the wait itsself).