MailScanner <defunct> ?

[Julian Field]

At 00:39 20/05/2004, you wrote:
>As you say. I would guess you know your code better :) I just got pretty
>nervous about this since nowhere on the net can I find any similar
>issues. Usually whoever complains about a defunct has some kind of error
>in the logs. Debians bug tracking system doesn't show anything either,
>still I experience the same on two independent servers. Let me know if
>you need any input to help you track down this problem in the future.

As long as your system is actually working okay, there is nothing to fix.
It is considerably quicker to reap processes in bunches than one at a time
unless I can guarantee being at the very end of their output, which I
can't. So the processes are reaped together rather than 1 at a time. It's
not an error.


>Peter
>
>On Wed, May 19, 2004 at 08:26:30PM +0100, Julian Field wrote:
> > From your description, the zombies merely equal the number of children and
> > do no harm. In which case, don't worry about them. The child reaping code
> > has been changed in the most recent releases to speed it up, and so this
> > can be expected.
> >
> > At 19:25 19/05/2004, you wrote:
> > >Same problem on a completely different setup. Described in my message
> > >dated may 15th. No errors whatsoever in the
> > >logs. Mail is being handled properly (I recieve hundreds order messages
> > >with sequence numbers in the subject so I know
> > >mail is not being lost). Virus scanners work (both clamav and f-prot are
> > >used, and both respond properly to viruses).
> > >E-mail content checks work properly. I do not use any spam control at this
> > >point (Spam Checks = no; Use SpamAssassin =
> > >no) however I believe it will work fine as well. Nevertheless every child
> > >passing a message through itself will leave
> > >a <defunct> zombie, which does not consume any CPU cycles and does not
> > >hold any open files. The zombie dies by itself
> > >after 15minutes. They do not reproduce after each message e.g. - you
> > >always have a number of zombies equeal to the
> > >number of children, no matter how much mail you process. The debug = yes
> > >option does not yield any additional
> > >information either. If I disable the virus wrappers - e.g. leave the virus
> > >scanners = none leaving only filename
> > >checks everything still stays the same. I am not very skilled in perl so I
> > >am clueless at this point.
> > >
> > >The system is Debian 3.0/Unstable
> > >MailScanner 4.30.3-1
> > >Exim 3.36-9.1
> > >Perl v5.8.4
> > >
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--
Julian Field
www.MailScanner.info
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