UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

can some one please explain

zombie
orphan
defunct

and how they r related

before someone thinks this is a home work it not

let me tell what my idea was till date

zombie process or defunct process is a process that has completed execution but still has an entry in the process table

then y 2 different names

orphan is one who's parent process is killed

but now i feel like a

form search i got

When a process ends, all of the memory and resources associated with it are deallocated so they can be used by other processes. However, the process's entry in the process table remains.(at this point is the node orphan ???? )

The parent can read the child's exit status by executing the wait system call, at which stage the zombie is removed.

now y is orphan not same as zombie

pls let me know

thnx

i got a beautiful article for zombie and orphan

WikiAnswers - What is Zombie Process and Orphan Process

that leaves me with one question

zombie and defunct are one and the same???

Not exactly, the ps command checks to see if a process is in the zombie state. If so, it will display <defunct> as the name and as the command line of the process. But the author of ps could have picked "nonesuch" or "tilt" or "not at home" just as easily. The kernel knows what a zombie is, but it never heard of "<defunct>".