Question

In some systems, a spawned process is destroyed automatically when its parent is destroyed. In other systems, spawned processes proceed independently of their parents, and the destruction of a parent has no effect on its children.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.

Answer 1

Parent-child process relationships vary by system. Automatically terminating child processes upon parent termination prevents resource leaks but can disrupt independent tasks.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question deals with the behavior of spawned processes upon the termination of their parent processes. There are two main approaches: one in which spawned processes are automatically destroyed with their parent, and another where child processes continue independently after the parent process is terminated. In the first approach, the system automatically cleans up, preventing orphaned processes which could lead to resource leaks. However, it might disrupt tasks meant to continue running even after the parent's end. In the second approach, tasks are not disrupted, enabling long-running or standalone operations. Yet, this independence can lead to orphaned processes consuming system resources if not appropriately managed. Independent child processes can continue tasks but risk creating orphaned processes.

Considering the spontaneous and nonspontaneous changes in a system, it can be seen that spawning and termination of processes can loosely relate to these concepts. Spontaneous processes occur without the need for continual energy input, similar to independent child processes continuing without the parent. Non-spontaneous processes requiring continuous input can be thought of as akin to child processes that terminate with the parent.