Process and job control
Full Workload
© *Zweiblum, photocase.com
What is happening on your Linux machine? Various shell commands give you details about system processes and help you control them.
Whenever you or an application launch a program, the operating system starts one or multiple processes. These processes can enter various states: They can be processed, stopped, restarted, and – under normal circumstances – stopped again. Linux has something similar to access controls for processes: Only the user that started a process can stop, restart, or terminate the process.
The only exception to this rule is the root user, who can control any process on a system. On top of this are processes that run on system user accounts, such as nobody or lp – again, only root has full access to them. In this issue, I will be looking at tools that help you find out more about, and control, processes.
One Big Family
Processes are never isolated and are always in good company. In fact, they are in a hierarchical structure, with process number 1, init, at the top. init is the first process that Linux launches after booting. All other processes share this common "ancestor" – init starts the operating system's basic programs. pstree shows the relationship between "parent" and "child" processes. This tree structure shows you at a glance who is descended from whom (Figure 1).
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.
-
FreeBSD Promises a Full Desktop Installer
FreeBSD has lacked an option to include a full desktop environment during installation.
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.