Control of the currently running process is covered under Current Process Control - control of the currently running process, longjmp, wait, sleep, argument processing

Process Signals and Events - Sending and handling signals and events.

See also: Running Process Information - Getting information on running processes.

How can I invoke another program from within a C program? []

How can I invoke another program and trap its output? []

How can I trap or ignore keyboard interrupts like control-C? []

Unix Programming FAQ Creating new processes: fork() []

Unix Programming FAQ What does fork() do? []

Unix Programming FAQ What's the difference between fork() and vfork()? []

Unix Programming FAQ Why use _exit rather than exit in the child branch of a fork? []

Unix Programming FAQ How can a parent and child process communicate? []

Unix Programming FAQ How do I get rid of zombie processes? []

Unix Programming FAQ What is a zombie? []

Unix Programming FAQ How do I prevent zombie processes from occuring? []

Unix Programming FAQ How do I get my program to act like a daemon? []

Unix Programming FAQ What's the return value of system/pclose/waitpid? []

Unix Programming FAQ Why doesn't my process get SIGHUP when its parent dies? []

Unix Programming FAQ How can I kill all descendents of a process? []

Unix Programming FAQ Example: Job Control example []

Unix Programming FAQ How can I debug the children after a fork? []

How do I set up my own personal cron stuff? [ 2000/06/01]

How do I get my program to run exactly once, later after I have logged off and gone home? [ 2000/02/01]

How do I run a program periodically? [ 2000/02/01]

How do Linux Threads Compare to NT Threads? [ 1999/10/16]

Questions and Answers

at, batch, atq, atrm(1) - queue, examine or delete jobs for later execution {oss}

wait(1) - await process completion {oss}

crontab(1) - maintain crontab files for individual users (V3) {oss}

kill(1) - terminate or signal a process {oss}

nice(1) - execute a utility with an altered scheduling priority {oss}

nohup(1) - invoke a command immune to hangups {oss}

atrun(8) - run jobs queued for later execution {oss}

cron(8) - daemon to execute scheduled commands (Vixie Cron) {oss}

sudo(8) - execute a command as the superuser {oss}

renice(8) - alter priority of running processes {oss}

anacron - Anacron is a periodic command scheduler. It executes commands at intervals specified in days. Unlike cron, it does not assume that the system is running continuously. {(L)GPL}

zthread-1.5.1 - A platform-independent object-oriented C++ threading library

Command-Line Option Generator - A utility to generate portable source code that parses command-line options. Automates the gruntwork. {(L)GPL}

misterproper-0.4 - A GNOME application designed to manage cyclic tasks

Slay-1.2 - Kills a login shell and process(es) of a user

pstree-2.17 - List processes as a tree

p5-POE-Component-JobQueue-0.51 - POE component for processing large numbers of tasks with finite numbers of workers

lavaps-1.20 - A lava lamp of currently running processes

detach-1.3 - Start a process detached from a terminal

p5-Schedule-At-1.02 - OS independent interface to the Unix 'at' command

p5-Proc-Background-1.06 - Perl interface to running background processes

py-pqueue-0.2 - Fibonacci-Heap based Priority-Queue Extension for Python

p5-Schedule-Cron-0.03 - Schedule::Cron - cron-like scheduler for Perl subroutines

p5-System2-0.82 - System2 - like system(), but with STDERR available as well

fcron-2.1.0 - Fcron is a periodical command scheduler

ruby-optparse-0.8.6 - Yet another command line option parser for Ruby

rname-1.0 - Execute a program with a fake name

tkcron-2.12 - A frontend to crontab.

super-3.14.0 - Allow others to run commands as root

psmisc-17 - A port of the Linux pstree, killall and pidof commands.

skill-4.1 - SuperKILL, kill or renice processes by pid, name, tty or uid

vixie-cron - Vixie's Cron, V3.0, {oss}

skill - signal or reprioritize specified processes, V3.6, {oss}

queuer - Multi-system program queueing package {oss}

Angel Network Monitor - A simple yet useful tool to monitor the services on your network {GPL}

mon - Highly configurable service monitoring daemon {GPL}

hc-cron - A modified version of Paul Vixie's widely used cron daemon {GPL}

Gconfig - A router configuration tool {x,freely distributable}

vcron - Graphical interface to cron and at {x,free to use but restricted}

runas - Execute a process as any user and/or group in a non-interactive manner {free to use but restricted}

NOCOL - System and network monitoring software {Freeware}

Applications and Utilities

kill (2) - send signal to a process {oss}

killpg (3) - send signal to a process group {oss}

execl execlp execle exect execv execvp (3) - execute a file {oss}

execve (2) - execute a file {oss}

system (3) - pass a command to the shell {oss}

popen pclose (3) - process I/O {oss}

fork (2) - create a new process {oss}

wait waitpid wait4 wait3 (2) - wait for process termination {oss}

ZThread - Advanced platform-independant, Object-Oriented threading and synchronization library. Designed and tested under POSIX & Win32 systems. Not just another thread wrapper. {(L)GPL}

ruby-rmail-0.8 - A light-weight mail manipulating library for Ruby

p5-Proc-Simple-1.18 - Perl5 module to launch and control background processes

Krnldemo.C - Demo of cooperative multitasking (MSDOS) {oss}

Shel2Dos.C - Shell to DOS from a running program (MSDOS) {oss}

Fork.Man, Fork.H, Fork.C - A fork command for DOS {oss,msdos}

Proc::WaitState - Functions for interpreting and acting on wait() status values. [Perl] {oss}

Proc::Forkfunc - A simple, robust wrapper around Perl's fork() function. [Perl] {oss}

LinuxThreads - An implementation of the Posix 1003.1c thread package for Linux {GPL}

Libraries and Functions

(The following links to subjects at this site retain your personalized selections.)

See also: Remote Process Creation and Control - Methods of starting and controlling processes remotely. (telnet, login, rexec, et al.)

See also: Local Process Communication - Communication between processes running on the same system. Synchronization. File locking. Signals. FIFOs, pipes, et al

See also: Command Shells and Scripting Languages

See also: Debugging and Tracing - (utilities, system and library calls which support debugging and tracing)

See also: Process Limits - Permission and access restriction (files, resources, etc)

Up to Execution

(Metalab at UNC) /pub/linux/system/daemons/cron/ - runs programs periodically