zombie processes

[Julian Field]

At 18:42 15/06/2004, you wrote:
>Hello everybody,
>
>I currenty set up MailScanner and it works together with Exim and
>AntiVir. All is fine but there are strange cases I can't explain:
>
>1. Is it normal that MailScanner will confidently create as many child
>processes as defined by "Max Children" plus one?

Yes. That's the parent.

>2. Whenever I send a mail, there'll be a new zombie process and ps shows
>"[MailScanner <defunct>]". The mail will be scanned and delivered just
>perfect but you can certainly imagine what would happen if this server
>would work in a productive area rather than a testing one.

And you should find it will destroy the zombie process itself pretty
quickly too.

>3. If I set "Debug = yes" and "Hide Incoming Work Dir = no" then a try
>to start check_mailscanner ends up on "In Debugging mode, not
>forking..." and won't return to the shell. If I set "Hide Incoming Work
>Dir = yes" then the debugging is made correct.

The "Hide Incoming Work Dir" setting should have no effect. The "not
forking" is quite correct, that's what debug mode does.

>4. If I set "Debug = no" and "Hide Incoming Work Dir = no" starting
>MailScanner won't have other effects on the "zombie behavour" than
>setting it to "yes".

--
Julian Field
www.MailScanner.info
Professional Support Services at www.MailScanner.biz
MailScanner thanks transtec Computers for their support
PGP footprint: EE81 D763 3DB0 0BFD E1DC 7222 11F6 5947 1415 B654

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