University of Balamand

Faculty of Sciences
CSIS 221
Operating Systems

Report 6
Processes

Emilio Chahine
Outline
1. Process State
a. Zombie Process

When a process dies on Linux, it isn’t all removed from memory immediately —
its process descriptor stays in memory (the process descriptor only takes a tiny
amount of memory). The process’s status becomes EXIT_ZOMBIE and the
process’s parent is notified that its child process has died with the signal. The
parent process is then supposed to execute the wait() system call to read the dead
process’s exit status and other information. This allows the parent process to get
information from the dead process. After wait() is called, the zombie process is
completely removed from memory.

2. Process Controls
a. Suspended (Swapping) Process
 Reasons for Process Suspension
 Process State Transition Diagram with one Suspend State
 Process State Transition Diagram with Two Suspend States
3. OS Control Tables
a. Memory Tables
b. I/O Tables
c. File Tables
d. Process Tables
4. Process Control Structures
a. Definition
b. Process Image
c. Elements of Process Image
5. Process Management
a. Processor Mode of Execution
 User Mode
 Kernel Mode
6. Process Switching
a. When to Switch Processes?
b. Mechanisms for Interrupting Execution of Process
 Interrupt
 Trap
 Supervisor Call
c. Mode Switch vs. Process Switch
1. Process State
a. Zombie Process
2. Process Controls
a. Suspended (Swapping) Process
 Reasons for Process Suspension
 Process State Transition Diagram with one Suspend State
 Process State Transition Diagram with Two Suspend States
3. OS Control Tables
a. Memory Tables
b. I/O Tables
c. File Tables
d. Process Tables
4. Process Control Structures
a. Definition
b. Process Image
c. Elements of Process Image
5. Process Management
a. Processor Mode of Execution
 User Mode
 Kernel Mode
6. Process Switching
a. When to Switch Processes?
b. Mechanisms for Interrupting Execution of Process
 Interrupt
 Trap
 Supervisor Call
c. Mode Switch vs. Process Switch