Q. Why do so many processes owned by me have PPID=1?

[Scott James Remnant]

On Fri, 2007-09-28 at 18:21 -0400, wtautz wrote:

> Hi, Just wondering if someone could explain the mechanism of gnome desktop
> with respect to processes.
> 
> In particular gnome-terminal has PPID=1
> 
PPID=1 means that the process's parent has died, usually because the
process has become a daemon.

This does make a kooky degree of sense; processes like GNOME Terminal
might be launched by either your Window Manager (keyboard shortcut), the
Panel (launcher) or even your File Manager (action menu).

It would be even stranger to see:

 gnome-session
  +- compiz
  |   +- epiphany-browser
  |   +- gnome-terminal
  +- gnome-panel
  |   +- deskbar
  |       +- evolution
  |   +- pidgin
  +- nautilus
      +- openoffice.org

Since the location of the process now depends on exactly how you
launched it!  And this prevents you from restarting your window manager
(e.g. disabling desktop effects), or panel, etc.

Scott
-- 
Scott James Remnant
scott at ubuntu.com
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