Thread-launched running processes won't destroy (Java)

Question

Starting multiple threads and having each exec() then destroy() a running java process result in some of the process not being destroyed and still running after program exit. He

Answer 1

I believe that according to link, a distinct process is spawned by the operating system in response to this call. This process has a lifetime independent of your Java program and threads within it so you would expect it to continue running after your program has exited. I just tried it on my machine and it appeared to work as expected:

import java.io.*;

class Mp {
public static void main(String []args) {
    for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
        new Thread(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                try {
                    System.out.println("1");
                    Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec
                        (new String[]{"notepad", ""});
                    System.out.println("2");
                    Thread.sleep(5);
                    System.out.println("3");
                    p.destroy();
                    System.out.println("4");
                }
                catch(IOException | InterruptedException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }                    
            }
        }).start();
    }
}
}

Answer 2

This is not an answer; I am posting complete source for my own attempt at recreating this problem as per discussion in question comments.

I cannot reproduce this problem on Ubuntu 12.04; OpenJDK 6b_27 (however, see below).

ProcessTest.java:

import java.io.*;

public class ProcessTest {

    public static final void main (String[] args) throws Exception {

        for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
            new Thread(new Runnable() 
                {
                    public void run() {
                        try {
                            Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[]{"java", "InfiniteLoop"});
                            Thread.sleep(1);
                            p.destroy();
                        }catch(IOException e) {
                            System.err.println("exception: " + e.getMessage());
                        } catch(InterruptedException e){
                            System.err.println("exception: " + e.getMessage());
                        }                    
                    }
                }).start();
        }

    }

}

InfiniteLoop.java

public class InfiniteLoop {
    public static final void main (String[] args) {
        while (true) ;
    }
}

I cannot reproduce the issue where processes remaining running after the JVM terminates. However, if I add a long delay in the main thread after starting the threads but before returning from main, I do see roughly a dozen running java processes that stick around (although they are terminated when the main program terminates).

Update:

I just had it leave about 5 processes running after it terminated. It doesn't always happen. Weird. I want to know more about this too. I have a hunch that it has something to do with destroying the process too quickly or some kind of race condition; maybe java forks something off or does something to create a new process that destroy() doesn't take care of if called too quickly / at the wrong time.

I found an old bug (but it is not mark resolved) stating that if a process spawns subprocesses they may not be killed by destroy(). bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4770092 What version of the JDK are you using.

Here's another reference to what looks like a similar issue: Java tool/method to force-kill a child process And I want to apologize if I've only added confusion to your life, I don't actually use Process that much and am not familiar with the quirks. Hopefully somebody else will step in with a definitive answer. It seems like it doesn't handle subprocesses well, and I'm presuming java forks something off. That's all I got.