ftp.cs.arizona.edu/ftp.cs.arizona.edu.tar/ftp.cs.arizona.edu/icon/newsgrp/group92c.txt/000030_icon-group-sender _Tue Oct 20 12:05:00 1992.msg

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-04 | 2KB

Received: by cheltenham.cs.arizona.edu; Tue, 20 Oct 1992 18:42:45 MST
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
From: [e-mail]
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 92 12:05 CDT
To: att!cs.arizona.edu!icon-group
Subject: Re: logging off UNIX
Status: R
Errors-To: [e-mail]

 > You could get around this a) by finding your login shell and then
 > killing it manually (a la system("kill -9 "||process_id) where pro-
 > cess_id is the ID of your login shell.

I can't take it anymore.  One of the first things UNIX novices learn is how
to do a "kill -9".  Most haven't a clue what this does but believe me -
it's not a pretty sight.

If you have to kill a process use a plain vanilla "kill" first.  This uses
the software termination signal (15) to notify the process in question it
should terminate.  This signal gives the process being killed a chance to
return any resources it's using and clean up after itself before it dies.

If that doesn't work try using a "kill -1" which send a hangup signal to
the process.  This is especially good for login shells since they usually
set traps to ignore software termination but most of the time they can
detect a hangup and clean up after themselves before logging you off.

If neither of these work then a "kill -9" with the kill signal (we always
called it terminate with extreme prejudice) is a last resort.  The process
being terminated has no chance to dodge this signal or cleanup their mess.

I know this has nothing to do with Icon but I couldn't just continue to
have people leave bloody little splotches all over their systems by using
"kill -9".  We need to put a stop to the senseless killing and work toward
a kinder gentler UNIX.

Jerry Nowlin