Help : <exiting> cannot be killed

[Chuck Ocheret]

I have been able to remove <exiting> processes in the past when the
scenario is that the process is waiting for an output queue to flush.  A
short program that flushes the device's queue allows the process to rest
in peace.  For example for a terminal, an ioctl() call with a TCFLSH
command (for termio at least) can flush the offending output queue.  The
zombie problem occurs very often when testing new comm systems (maybe I'm
a sloppy developer) so I keep an "exorcist" program around for just such
occasions.

I would like to see a general purpose "exorcist" which, given a pid, can
determine what device the process is waiting for and take the appropriate
action.

Chuck Ocheret
Morgan Stanely & Co., Inc.
1251 Avenue of the Americas
New York, N.Y.  10020
(212)703-4474
chuck at morgan.com

[[ When one of our terminal lines got stuck with an <exiting> process, I
ran a program that called ioctl() with TCFLSH (remembering that this
sometimes unstuck these beasts).  It had no effect.  So it doesn't always
work.  --wnl ]]