linux-management-proc-forking

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proc-forking

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__Roadmap info from [ roadmap website ] (https://roadmap.sh/linux/process-management/proc-forking) __

Process Forking in Process Management

Process forking is a fundamental concept under process management in Linux systems. The term refers to the mechanism where a running process (parent process) can generate a copy of itself (child process), enabling concurrent execution of both processes. This is facilitated by the fork system call. It is a prominent aspect in understanding the creation and control of processes in a Linux environment.

The child process created by fork is a nearly perfect copy of the parent process with exception to just a few values including the process ID and parent process ID. Any changes made in the child process does not affect the parent process, and vice versa.

Here’s a basic code snippet of proc forking in C: 

# include<sys/types.h>
# include<unistd.h>
# include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
pid_t child_pid;

// Try creating a child process
child_pid = fork();

// If a child is successfully created
if(child_pid >= 0)
printf("Child created with PID: %d\n", child_pid);
else
printf("Fork failed\n");
return 0;
}

In this snippet, fork() is used to created a new child process. If the process creation is successful, fork() returns the process ID of the child process. If unsuccessful, it returns a negative value.