Hi guys! Given a process ID (PID 1

[DZH]

Hi guys!

Given a process ID (PID), how do I get the child processes whose parent process is PID? The intent is to programmatically kill a process and all its child processes. If a child process is itself a parent of another process, then the "second generation" child processes should be killed as well. I would like to do this on Solaris using C and any of the scripting langs (SH, AWK, or PERL).

Thanks.

 

[AllenV]

Though this is a "c" forum - you could easily do what you want in PERL alone - by using the readily available,
"ps -ef" command. This would be the most portable way.

Store the entire process list in a binary tree using Parent Process ID as the primary, find the requested PID in the list and traverse said list from that point.

From a "c" and Solaris perspective - check these:
man -s 4 proc (explains how to read the /proc filesystem)
procfs.h (header file for /proc system structs)

 

[amarg]

Hi,

There is another application "ptree" in UNIX. You can use this cammand in perl, even you don't need to make any binary tree, It will give you a full tree of given PID.

--Amar

 

[AllenV]

Very good point, AmarG! On Solaris, ptree is found in /usr/proc/bin/ptree. This may not be in your default path, but it is certainly a good program. ptree is not available on all systems though.. HP/UX for instance has no such command.

 

[DZH]

Many thanks, AmarG. I was about to write that does exactly what ptree does. Now, I don't have to. Again, thanks.