Description: A zombie process is a state in which a process has completed its execution but still maintains an entry in the operating system’s process table. This occurs when a child process finishes its execution, but its parent process has not called the wait() function to collect its exit status. As a result, the child process becomes a ‘zombie’, occupying space in the process table until the parent process collects it. This phenomenon is important in process management, as an excessive number of zombie processes can lead to unnecessary resource consumption and, in extreme cases, saturation of the process table, preventing the creation of new processes. Zombie processes are identifiable in various operating systems, where they can be observed using system monitoring commands. Although they do not consume CPU, they do occupy memory and can be an indicator of issues in process management of a program. Proper collection of child processes is essential to maintain the health of the operating system and avoid the accumulation of these inactive processes.
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