Process Management in Linux Explained

Process in Linux

In Linux, a process is an instance of a program that is being executed. It has a process ID (PID) and it is the fundamental unit of scheduling of Linux. A process can be in one of the five states: running, sleeping, waiting, stopped, and zombie. The state of a process is determined by the kernel.

A process is created when a user executes a program. It is managed by the kernel using the scheduler. The scheduler makes sure that the resources are allocated to the process based on its priority. The scheduler also makes sure that the process is using its allocated resources efficiently. It manages the memory, CPU, and I/O of the process.

A process is divided into two parts; the user space and the kernel space. The user space consists of the code that is written by the user, while the kernel space consists of the code that is written by the kernel. The kernel space is responsible for managing the hardware and the resources of the system.

The parent process of a process is the process that created it. The parent process has control and responsibility over the child process. When the parent process exits, all of its child processes are terminated as well. This is called “orphaning”.

A process can communicate with other processes through inter-process communication (IPC). This is done through messages, signals, shared memory, and pipes. It is important for processes to communicate with each other to coordinate their work.

In Linux, processes can be managed using the command line tools such as top, ps, kill, and nice. These tools let you monitor the status of processes, modify their priority, and send signals to them. Knowing how to use these tools is essential in managing processes in Linux.