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author | Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com> | 2016-12-05 10:24:54 +0100 |
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committer | Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com> | 2016-12-05 16:51:15 +0100 |
commit | 3d463c677e773373d2dd59f52d9109b05b36bb08 (patch) | |
tree | 6d968e780f920eacd2e83f8b1290e9c9e60ccb91 | |
parent | b79cc53b43ca7cc3fefbb8dd725c8e3eb811ad09 (diff) | |
download | util-linux-3d463c677e773373d2dd59f52d9109b05b36bb08.tar.gz |
docs: kill(1): Add more detail on use of SIGTERM vs SIGKILL
It's worth adding a recommendation here to use SIGTERM
rather than SIGKILL, and explain why.
Signed-off-by: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
-rw-r--r-- | misc-utils/kill.1 | 14 |
1 files changed, 11 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/misc-utils/kill.1 b/misc-utils/kill.1 index 14e6f3d961..091de407d3 100644 --- a/misc-utils/kill.1 +++ b/misc-utils/kill.1 @@ -21,9 +21,17 @@ kill \- terminate a process The command .B kill sends the specified \fIsignal\fR to the specified processes or process groups. -If no signal is specified, the TERM signal is sent. This TERM signal will kill -processes that do not catch it; for other processes it may be necessary to use -the KILL signal (number 9), since this signal cannot be caught. +.PP +If no signal is specified, the TERM signal is sent. +The default action for this signal is to terminate the process. +This signal should be used in preference to the +KILL signal (number 9), since a process may install a handler for the +TERM signal in order to perform clean-up steps before terminating in +an orderly fashion. +If a process does not terminate after a TERM signal has been sent, +then the KILL signal may be used; be aware that the latter signal +cannot be caught, and so does not give the target process the opportunity +to do perform any clean-up before terminating. .PP Most modern shells have a builtin kill function, with a usage rather similar to that of the command described here. The |