Re: [tlug] Why won't this process die?

[Joe Larabell <fred62@???>]

Resending... I used the wrong "From" address last time...

> dave@example.com:~$ sudo kill 11906

Did you try:

  sudo kill -9 11906

The 'kill' and 'killall' send signal 15 (TERM) by default which is kinda
like asking the process nicely if it would please go away. Some processes
ignore TERM -- especially if they're designed to keep running even when
the shell that started them happens to go away.

Signal 9 (usually also named KILL) cannot be ignored. It will get the
attention of the process even if it doesn't want to be interrupted. The
only way the process would fail to go away at that point would be if it
were somehow damaged and unable to correctly return all the resources it
has hoarded (or if the process is stopped for some reason).

Usually the "-9" is enough to convince the process to give up.

---
Joseph L (Joe) Larabell            Never fight with a dragon
http://larabell.org                     for thou art crunchy
                                  and goest well with cheese.