suse man page for pid_alive

PID_ALIVE(9)							   Driver Basics						      PID_ALIVE(9)

NAME
       pid_alive - check that a task structure is not stale

SYNOPSIS
       int pid_alive(struct task_struct * p);

ARGUMENTS
       p
	   Task structure to be checked.

DESCRIPTION
       Test if a process is not yet dead (at most zombie state) If pid_alive fails, then pointers within the task structure can be stale and must
       not be dereferenced.

COPYRIGHT
Kernel Hackers Manual 2.6.					     July 2010							      PID_ALIVE(9)