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wait (system call) In computer operating systems, a process (or task) may wait for another process to complete its execution. In most systems, a parent process can create an independently executing child process. The parent process may then issue a wait system call, which suspends the execution of the parent process while the child executes.
Exit status. In computing, the exit status (also exit code or exit value) of a terminated process is an integer number that is made available to its parent process (or caller). In DOS, this may be referred to as an errorlevel. When computer programs are executed, the operating system creates an abstract entity called a process in which the book ...
System call. A high-level overview of the Linux kernel's system call interface, which handles communication between its various components and the userspace. In computing, a system call (commonly abbreviated to syscall) is the programmatic way in which a computer program requests a service from the operating system [a] on which it is executed.
A child process in computing is a process created by another process (the parent process). This technique pertains to multitasking operating systems, and is sometimes called a subprocess or traditionally a subtask. There are two major procedures for creating a child process: the fork system call (preferred in Unix-like systems and the POSIX ...
Zombie process. On Unix and Unix-like computer operating systems, a zombie process or defunct process is a process that has completed execution (via the exit system call) but still has an entry in the process table: it is a process in the "terminated state". This occurs for the child processes, where the entry is still needed to allow the ...
Futex. In computing, a futex (short for "fast userspace mutex ") is a kernel system call that programmers can use to implement basic locking, or as a building block for higher-level locking abstractions such as semaphores and POSIX mutexes or condition variables. A futex consists of a kernel-space wait queue that is attached to an atomic ...
fork (system call) In computing, an operation whereby a process creates a copy of itself. In computing, particularly in the context of the Unix operating system and its workalikes, fork is an operation whereby a process creates a copy of itself. It is an interface which is required for compliance with the POSIX and Single UNIX Specification ...
They are a limited form of inter-process communication (IPC), typically used in Unix, Unix-like, and other POSIX -compliant operating systems. A signal is an asynchronous notification sent to a process or to a specific thread within the same process to notify it of an event. Common uses of signals are to interrupt, suspend, terminate or kill a ...