Ubuntu displays “There is 1 zombie process” upon login

Ubuntuzombie

This message appears when I login to my machine:

There is 1 zombie process.
  • What is it telling me?
  • Is this anything I should worry about?
  • If yes, then what should I do, and how?

Best Answer

There's nothing to worry about :

Zombie

On Unix operating systems, a zombie process or defunct process is a process that has completed execution but still has an entry in the process table, allowing the process that started it to read its exit status. In the term's colorful metaphor, the child process has died but has not yet been reaped.

When a process ends, all of the memory and resources associated with it are deallocated so they can be used by other processes. However, the process's entry in the process table remains. The parent is sent a SIGCHLD signal indicating that a child has died; the handler for this signal will typically execute the wait system call, which reads the exit status and removes the zombie. The zombie's process ID and entry in the process table can then be reused. However, if a parent ignores the SIGCHLD, the zombie will be left in the process table. In some situations this may be desirable, for example if the parent creates another child process it ensures that it will not be allocated the same process ID.

Source : http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Zombie_Process_and_Orphan_Process

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