Processes and Process Management

Process Concept

A process is a program in execution. It includes:

• Program code (text section)
• Current activity (program counter, register contents)
• Stack (temporary data like function parameters, return addresses)
• Data section (global variables)
• Heap (dynamically allocated memory)

flowchart TD
    subgraph Process Memory Layout
        A["Stack\n(grows down)\nfunction calls, local vars"]
        B["(free space)"]
        C["Heap\n(grows up)\ndynamic allocation"]
        D["Data\n(global variables)"]
        E["Text\n(program code)"]
    end

    style A fill:#7c4dff,color:#fff
    style C fill:#1565c0,color:#fff
    style D fill:#00897b,color:#fff
    style E fill:#37474f,color:#fff

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Process Control Block (PCB)

The OS maintains a PCB for each process containing:

• Process state (running, waiting, etc.)
• Program counter
• CPU registers
• CPU scheduling information (priority, scheduling queue pointers)
• Memory management information (page tables, segment tables)
• Accounting information (CPU time used, time limits)
• I/O status information (list of open files, I/O devices allocated)

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Process States

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> New
    New --> Ready : admitted
    Ready --> Running : scheduler dispatch
    Running --> Ready : interrupt / preempted
    Running --> Waiting : I/O or event wait
    Waiting --> Ready : I/O or event complete
    Running --> Terminated : exit
    Terminated --> [*]

1. New: Process is being created
2. Ready: Waiting to be assigned to a processor
3. Running: Instructions are being executed
4. Waiting: Waiting for some event (I/O completion, signal)
5. Terminated: Process has finished execution

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Process Creation

fork() System Call

Creates a new process by duplicating the calling process.

flowchart TD
    P["Parent Process\nPID = 100"] -->|"fork()"| F{fork returns}
    F -->|"returns child PID (e.g. 101)\nto parent"| PP["Parent continues\npid > 0"]
    F -->|"returns 0\nto child"| CP["Child Process\nPID = 101\npid == 0"]

    style P fill:#1565c0,color:#fff
    style PP fill:#1565c0,color:#fff
    style CP fill:#00897b,color:#fff

pid_t pid = fork();

if (pid == 0) {
    // Child process code
    printf("I am the child\n");
} else if (pid > 0) {
    // Parent process code
    printf("I am the parent, child PID is %d\n", pid);
} else {
    // fork() failed
    perror("fork");
}

After fork(): - Child gets a copy of parent's memory space - Child has its own PID - Both processes continue from the point after fork() - Return value distinguishes parent (positive PID) from child (0)

exec() Family

Replaces the current process image with a new program.

execlp("ls", "ls", "-l", NULL);
// If successful, this line never executes
perror("execlp");

Common exec() variants: - execl(): Takes arguments as list - execlp(): Searches PATH for the program - execv(): Takes arguments as array - execvp(): Array + PATH search

wait() System Call

Parent process waits for child to terminate.

int status;
pid_t child_pid = wait(&status);
printf("Child %d terminated\n", child_pid);

---

Inter-Process Communication (IPC)

flowchart LR
    subgraph Shared Memory
        P1A["Process A"] <-->|"Read/Write\nshared region"| SM["Shared\nMemory"]
        SM <--> P1B["Process B"]
    end

    subgraph Message Passing
        P2A["Process A"] -->|"send(msg)"| MB["Mailbox /\nChannel"]
        MB -->|"receive(msg)"| P2B["Process B"]
    end

    style SM fill:#f57c00,color:#fff
    style MB fill:#1565c0,color:#fff

1. Shared Memory

Processes share a region of memory. Faster but requires synchronization.

2. Message Passing

Processes communicate by sending messages. Slower but easier to implement.

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Pipes

Ordinary Pipes

Unidirectional communication between parent and child processes.

int fd[2];
pipe(fd);    // fd[0] is read end, fd[1] is write end

if (fork() == 0) {
    close(fd[0]);
    write(fd[1], "Hello", 5);
    close(fd[1]);
} else {
    close(fd[1]);
    char buf[10];
    read(fd[0], buf, 5);
    close(fd[0]);
}

Named Pipes (FIFOs)

Bidirectional, can be used by unrelated processes, exists as a file in the filesystem.

mkfifo mypipe
echo "Hello" > mypipe &    # Writer
cat < mypipe               # Reader

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Zombie and Orphan Processes

flowchart LR
    subgraph Zombie
        ZP["Child terminates"] --> ZZ["Entry stays in\nprocess table"]
        ZZ --> ZW["Waiting for parent\nto call wait()"]
        style ZZ fill:#ef5350,color:#fff
    end

    subgraph Orphan
        OP["Parent terminates\nbefore child"] --> OA["init (PID 1)\nadopts orphan"]
        style OA fill:#00897b,color:#fff
    end

Zombie: A terminated process whose parent hasn't yet called wait(). Takes up space in the process table.

Orphan: A process whose parent has terminated. The init process (PID 1) adopts orphans.