Orphaned process

An orphaned process happens when a parent process ends before its child process, leaving the child running without its original parent. On Linux systems, orphaned child processes are automatically adopted by the init or systemd process (usually PID 1), allowing them to continue running in the background. On Windows, orphaned processes also continue running but without a parent-child relationship, making process management and cleanup more challenging. Although orphaned processes do not inherently consume excessive resources, their unintended presence can signal design flaws, resource leaks, or inefficient handling of processes within software applications.

Fixing orphaned processes typically involves ensuring the parent process properly waits for or terminates its child processes before exiting. On Linux, you can explicitly manage child processes using system calls such as wait() or waitpid(), ensuring all child processes complete before the parent terminates. If a parent process has already exited, manually terminating or restarting orphaned child processes may be necessary using commands like kill or killall. On Windows, use task management tools (Task Manager) or command-line utilities (taskkill) to manually terminate orphaned processes. Implementing robust error handling, process monitoring, and proper cleanup routines in your application code helps prevent orphaned processes from occurring in the first place.