From owner-freebsd-stable Sat Dec 23 0:14:37 2000 From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Dec 23 00:14:34 2000 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mailhost01.reflexnet.net (mailhost01.reflexnet.net [64.6.192.82]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CFD7A37B400 for ; Sat, 23 Dec 2000 00:14:34 -0800 (PST) Received: from rfx-64-6-211-149.users.reflexcom.com ([64.6.211.149]) by mailhost01.reflexnet.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.197.19); Sat, 23 Dec 2000 00:10:47 -0800 Received: (from cjc@localhost) by rfx-64-6-211-149.users.reflexcom.com (8.11.0/8.11.0) id eBN8CNG16665; Sat, 23 Dec 2000 00:12:23 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from cjc) Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2000 00:12:23 -0800 From: "Crist J. Clark" To: Mikhail Teterin Cc: Cy Schubert - ITSD Open Systems Group , stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: an unkillable process (again) Message-ID: <20001223001223.M96105@149.211.6.64.reflexcom.com> Reply-To: cjclark@alum.mit.edu References: <200012220202.eBM22oc75560@cwsys.cwsent.com> <200012221757.eBMHvDB21729@aldan.algebra.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 1.0i In-Reply-To: <200012221757.eBMHvDB21729@aldan.algebra.com>; from mi@aldan.algebra.com on Fri, Dec 22, 2000 at 12:57:13PM -0500 Sender: cjc@rfx-64-6-211-149.users.reflexcom.com Sender: owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Fri, Dec 22, 2000 at 12:57:13PM -0500, Mikhail Teterin wrote: > Cy Schubert - ITSD Open Systems Group once stated: > > =In message <200012202226.eBKMQf100632@misha.privatelabs.com>, Mikhail > =Teterin writes: > => Here it is: > => > => 425 mi -18 0 45308K 144K swwrt 4:25 0.10% 0.10% communicator > => -l > => > => For some bizarre reasons of its own, Netscape went into swap-writing > => binge. Why did it make it immune to ``kill -9''? > = > =Then it appears that swwrt has a higher priority than kill has, which > =it should have. > > Rather confusing... kill -9 does not deliver any signals to the process. > It is there to kill. Shouldn't it have the higher priority? It is not a "priority" issue. The process is in the midst of an operation that cannot be interupted. For some reason, that operation is hanging up. I believe 'swwrt' is writing to swap? I/O calls are the most frequent uninteruptable calls that get hung. > Also, anything that prevents root from killing a process is not right, > IMHO. It is usually indicative of a deeper problem. > This leaves "reboot" as the only option left, which WILL kill > everybody anyway, resulting in all possible data losses, etc. that the > "unkillability" tries to prevent. Not sure if leaving it is doing much harm. Why reboot? And is there a problem with your HDD or swap? -- Crist J. Clark cjclark@alum.mit.edu To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message