On Thu, Sep 09, 2004 at 08:55:14PM +0100, Sharon Kimble wrote: > Clint Harshaw wrote: > > Sharon Kimble wrote: > >> I'm using Fedora Core 2 with kde 3.3.0-1.0.2.kde and my gkrellm process > >> monitor is showing four users, except that this is a stand-alone and not > >> connected to any network [except the internet], and I'm the only user. > >> > >> So how do I find out what these other processes are, and then how do I > >> kill them please? .... > > See if my postings related to what I describe are what you are seeing > > yourself. There may be some .... happening ... > Following up on this and I've now got 7 extra users, and they're all me! I > did what you suggested and the result is here;- > and then i did the following ;- > ------------------------------- > gads:~$ kill pid 9334 > bash: kill: pid: no such pid > gads:~$ users > boztu boztu boztu boztu boztu boztu boztu boztu boztu boztu .... > and as I closed every bash down, it all dropped down to '7 users' again! > Odd! > Anyone got any ideas how to solve it without rebooting please? I am not sure that you have a problem to solve. (except to avoid the 'kill' command). The notion of 'users' is not as strong as many expect. Pay attention to processes. When an interactive process (terminal + shell) is created on login or otherwise a utmp/wtmp entry is made as a hint and convenient reference to the system admin. When that process exits gracefully the entry is cleaned up. The key word here is "gracefully". This system of checking in and checking out is problematic because it demands that all of the comings and goings be logged. The early implementations worked but then some students (not kind to students I know) discovered that the this log file was wide open so they would hack it to make it look like they logged out when they were supposed to. The solution was to protect the file. This works on the creation side of things but not reliably on the exit side. If you kill a process with a signal that cannot be caught it is possible that the exit code will not run correctly and notify the system to clean up the entry. The result is that tools like "users" will commonly see 'extra' users. Since this is a single person machine and as long as all the extras are you I would simply watch and find out what key/click sequence is causing a process to leave the party and not telling the host/ess good night. See also last, w, who... So watch each 'user' and how you cause that instance of you to exit. There may or may not be a bug worth addressing. -- T o m M i t c h e l l Just say no to 74LS73 in 2004
