Tasks

Tasks represent both processes and threads. Conceptually:

erDiagram task_struct { volatile-long state int prio pid_t pid rcu p_opptr rcu p_opptr uid_t uid gid_t gid uid_t euid gid_t egid uid_t fsuid gid_t fsgid arrayof-task_struct children arrayof-task_struct sibling } thread_info { task_struct task } task_struct ||--|{ thread_info : "has child threads" task_struct ||--|{ task_struct : "has child and sibling processes" task_struct ||--|| task_struct : "has parent process"

Processes are defined by task_struct.
Threads are defined by thread_info.

TTY

Each process has an assigned TTY, a device that behaves like a terminal. Nowadays we generally use PTYs provisioned by a service like getty.

States

The below values are defined in /include/linux/sched.h. The names are encoded in task_state_array in /fs/proc/array.c. Not all of these states are reportable.

Task states

Task states (state) indicate whether a given task is runnable or not:

stateDiagram-v2 direction LR [*] --> Ready : Creation Ready --> Executing : Running Executing --> Zombie : Termination Executing --> Ready : Scheduling Executing --> Interruptible Executing --> Stopped : Signal Executing --> Uninterruptible Stopped --> Ready : Signal Uninterruptible --> Ready : Signal or event Interruptible --> Ready : Signal or event

TASK_RUNNING (R; running) indicates that a task is either running or runnable.
TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE (S; sleeping) indicates a task waiting for time slot or event.
TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE (D; disk sleep) wake only when a waited resource becoming available or a timeout occurs.
__TASK_STOPPED (T) indicates a task is suspended and will only handle SIGCONT (continue) and SIGKILL (stop).
__TASK_TRACED (t; tracing stop) is the state of a task being traced (via the ptrace system call).
TASK_PARKED (P; parked) is the state of a kthread after kthread_park().
TASK_DEAD task is dead, pending destruction of its task_struct. The exit status is in exit_state.
TASK_WAKEKILL allows a kthread to wake in response to a signal.
TASK_WAKING indicates a task is being woken.
TASK_NOLOAD kthread equivalent of TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE that doesn't affect the system load average.
TASK_NEW is the state for a newly created task, indicating that it's not yet runnable and cannot wake up in response to a signal or external event.

Exit states

Exit states are independent:

EXIT_DEAD (X; dead) is the state of a process which has exited, and its parent has waited for it.
EXIT_ZOMBIE (Z; zombie) indicates the process has exited but its parent has not yet awaited its exit.
EXIT_TRACE is a variant of EXIT_ZOMBIE for processes under tracing.

`procfs`

The Process VFS exposes much of this.

References

Backlinks