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doc: describe child.kill() pitfalls on linux

This commit refines the documentation around child.kill(), where kill
attempts against shells will lead to unexpected results. Namely, on
linux the child process of a child process will not terminate, when
its parent gets terminated. This is different across the the
platforms.

PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/2098
Reviewed-By: Benjamin Gruenbaum <benjamingr@gmail.com>
Closes: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/2098
v6.x
Robert Jefe Lindstaedt 9 years ago
committed by James M Snell
parent
commit
d66d028edc
  1. 26
      doc/api/child_process.markdown

26
doc/api/child_process.markdown

@ -759,7 +759,29 @@ delivered to that process instead which can have unexpected results.
Note that while the function is called `kill`, the signal delivered to the
child process may not actually terminate the process.
See `kill(2)`
See `kill(2)` for reference.
Also note: on Linux, child processes of child processes will not be terminated
when attempting to kill their parent. This is likely to happen when running a
new process in a shell or with use of the `shell` option of `ChildProcess`, such
as in this example:
```js
'use strict';
const spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
let child = spawn('sh', ['-c',
`node -e "setInterval(() => {
console.log(process.pid + 'is alive')
}, 500);"`
], {
stdio: ['inherit', 'inherit', 'inherit']
});
setTimeout(() => {
child.kill(); // does not terminate the node process in the shell
}, 2000);
```
### child.pid
@ -1025,4 +1047,4 @@ to the same value.
[`options.stdio`]: #child_process_options_stdio
[`stdio`]: #child_process_options_stdio
[synchronous counterparts]: #child_process_synchronous_process_creation
[`JSON.stringify()`]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/JSON/stringify
[`JSON.stringify()`]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/JSON/stringify

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