3. Process Management

This chapter introduces the concept of the process, one of the fundamental abstractions in Unix operating systems. It defines the process, as well as related concepts such as threads, and then discusses how the Linux kernel manages each process: how they are enumerated within the kernel, how they are created, and how they ultimately die. Because running user applications is the reason we have operating systems, the process management is a crucial part of any operating system kernel, including Linux.

The Process

A process is a program (object code stored on some media) in the midst of execution. Processes are, however, more than just the executing program code (often called the text section in Unix). They also include ...

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