I've written a socket based multi client server and a client as an assigment, but I don't seem to be able to get rid of forked processes. Every time I close the client, or enter the exiting command, the process doesn't seem to close. When checked ps aux| grep server
there is a defuct process. How can I get rid of them, what am I doing wrong when closing forked prosses.
The server:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <strings.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <time.h>
void error(char *msg)
{
perror(msg);
exit(1);
}
void doprocessing (int sock)
{
int n;
char buffer[5];
time_t rawtime;
char tim[22];
char dat[20];
char day[16];
char yer[18];
while(1)
{
bzero(buffer,5);
n = read(sock,buffer,5);
if (n < 0) error("ERROR reading from socket");
printf("Got %.3s command.\n",buffer);
if (strcasecmp(buffer, "tim\n") == 0)
{
rawtime = time(NULL);
strncpy(tim, "Current time: ", 14);
strncpy(tim+14, (ctime(&rawtime))+11, 8);
n = write(sock, tim, 22);
}
else if (strcasecmp(buffer, "dat\n") == 0)
{
rawtime = time(NULL);
strncpy(dat, "Current date: ", 14);
strncpy(dat+14, (ctime(&rawtime))+4, 6);
n = write(sock, dat, 20);
}
else if (strcasecmp(buffer, "day\n") == 0)
{
rawtime = time(NULL);
strncpy(day, "Current day: ", 13);
strncpy(day+13, (ctime(&rawtime)), 3);
n = write(sock, day, 16);
}
else if (strcasecmp(buffer, "yer\n") == 0)
{
rawtime = time(NULL);
strncpy(yer, "Current year: ", 14);
strncpy(yer+14, (ctime(&rawtime))+20, 4);
n = write(sock, yer, 18);
}
else if (strcasecmp(buffer, "com\n") == 0)
{
n = write(sock, "TIM - current time\nDAT - Month and day\nDAY - current weekday\nYER - Year\nEXT - exit", 82);
}
else if (strcasecmp(buffer, "ext\n") == 0)
{
n = write(sock, "Exiting", 7);
break;
}
else n = write(sock, "Wrong command enter COM to see commands.",40);
if (n < 0) error("ERROR writing to socket");}
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int sockfd, newsockfd, portno, clilen, n;
char buffer[256];
struct sockaddr_in serv_addr, cli_addr;
int pid;
if (argc < 2)
{
fprintf(stderr, "ERROR, no port provided");
exit(1);
}
sockfd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
if (sockfd < 0) error("ERROR opening socket");
bzero((char *) &serv_addr, sizeof(serv_addr));
portno = atoi(argv[1]);
serv_addr.sin_family = AF_INET;
serv_addr.sin_port = htons(portno);
serv_addr.sin_addr.s_addr = INADDR_ANY;
if (bind(sockfd, (struct sockaddr *) &serv_addr, sizeof(serv_addr)) < 0) error("ERROR on binding");
listen(sockfd, 5);
clilen = sizeof(cli_addr);
while(1)
{
newsockfd = accept(sockfd, (struct sockaddr *) &cli_addr, &clilen);
if (newsockfd < 0) error("ERROR on accept");
pid = fork();
if (pid < 0) error("ERROR on fork");
if (pid == 0)
{
close(sockfd);
doprocessing(newsockfd);
exit(-1);
}
else close(newsockfd);
}
close(sockfd);
return 0;
}
The Client:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <netdb.h>
void error(const char *msg)
{
perror(msg);
exit(0);
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int sockfd, portno, n;
struct sockaddr_in serv_addr;
struct hostent *server;
char rbuffer[256];
char sbuffer[256];
if (argc < 3)
{
fprintf(stderr,"usage %s hostname port\n", argv[0]);
exit(0);
}
portno = atoi(argv[2]);
sockfd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
if (sockfd < 0) error("ERROR opening socket");
server = gethostbyname(argv[1]);
if (server == NULL)
{
fprintf(stderr,"ERROR, no such host\n");
exit(0);
}
bzero((char *) &serv_addr, sizeof(serv_addr));
serv_addr.sin_family = AF_INET;
bcopy((char *)server->h_addr, (char *)&serv_addr.sin_addr.s_addr, server->h_length);
serv_addr.sin_port = htons(portno);
if (connect(sockfd,(struct sockaddr *) &serv_addr,sizeof(serv_addr)) < 0) error("ERROR connecting");
while(1)
{
printf("Enter a command: ");
bzero(sbuffer,sizeof(sbuffer));
fgets(sbuffer,255,stdin);
n = write(sockfd,sbuffer,5);
if (n < 0) error("ERROR writing to socket");
bzero(rbuffer,sizeof(rbuffer));
n = read(sockfd,rbuffer,255);
if (n < 0) error("ERROR reading from socket");
printf("%s\n",rbuffer);
if (strcasecmp(sbuffer, "ext\n") == 0) break;
}
close(sockfd);
return 0;
}
A process is going to be visible in ps output as 'defunct' (sometimes called zombie process) until it's exit status is going to be collected with wait()
or waitpid()
.
There are following ways of getting rid of those zombie processes:
wait()
or waitpid()
in parent process. Obviously, it's hard to do anything else in the parent this way.waitpid
inside this thread.waitpid()
inside this handler.