os.system and subprocess odd behavior

[Cameron Simpson]

On 18Dec2012 05:39, Dave Angel <d at davea.name> wrote:
| On 12/18/2012 05:27 AM, Hans Mulder wrote:
| > On 18/12/12 06:10:43, photonymous at gmail.com wrote:
| >> I hope I understand the question... but shouldn't you wait for the process to complete before exiting?
| >>
| >> Something like:
| >>
| >> pid = subprocess.Popen(...)
| >> pid.wait()
| >>
| >> Otherwise, it'll exit before the background process is done. 
| > Why would that be a problem?
| 
| Because you don't want to bog the system down with a zombie task.

A zombie task is just a process table slot; it costs the system almost
nothing. It is untidy but except in extreme cases, not a performance or
resource issue.

OTOH, a child process that is still active (pointlessly) might be a
problem...
-- 
Cameron Simpson <cs at zip.com.au>

My initial work-around is to rebuild history.
        - gary at sci34hub.sci.com (Gary Heston)