Question

In the ps results few of the processes are having process state as "D" . What does it mean ? Briefly explain different process states ?

Answer 1

To have a dynamic view of a process in Linux, always use the top command. This command provides a real-time view of the Linux system in terms of processes. The eighth column in the output of this command represents the current state of processes. A process state gives a broader indication of whether the process is currently running, stopped, sleeping etc.

A process in Linux can have any of the following four states…

Running – A process is said to be in a running state when either it is actually running/ executing or waiting in the scheduler’s queue to get executed (which means that it is ready to run). That is the reason that this state is sometimes also known as ‘runnable’ and represented by (R).

Waiting or Sleeping – A process is said to be in this state if it is waiting for an event to occur or waiting for some resource-specific operation to complete. So, depending upon these scenarios, a waiting state can be subcategorised into an interruptible (S) or uninterruptible (D) state respectively.

Stopped – A process is said to be in the stopped state when it receives a signal to stop. This usually happens when the process is being debugged. This state is represented by (T).

Zombie – A process is said to be in the zombie state when it has finished execution but is waiting for its parent to retrieve its exit status. This state is represented by (Z).

Apart from these four states, the process is said to be dead after it crosses over the zombie state; ie when the parent retrieves its exit status. ‘Dead’ is not exactly a state, since a dead process ceases to exist.