vim leaves zombies behind

[Spiros Bousbouras]

If I do from within vim
:%! some_executable
the executable becomes a zombie after it terminates and
remains a zombie until I exit vim. How do I avoid this ?

[Matt Wozniski]

I can't reproduce this. What OS/Distro? GVim or Vim?

~Matt

[Spiros Bousbouras]

Ubuntu GNU/Linux. I type "vim" at a terminal. The corresponding
executable is /usr/bin/vim.full The version from the
/var/lib/dpkg/status file is
Version: 1:7.0-035+1ubuntu5

[John Little]

On Mar 16, 12:58 am, Spiros wrote:
> > > :%! some_executable
> > > the executable becomes a zombie after it terminates and
> > > remains a zombie until I exit vim.
>

> Ubuntu GNU/Linux.

> The version from the /var/lib/dpkg/status file is
> Version: 1:7.0-035+1ubuntu5

That's the version, 7.0.135, in Ubuntu 8.04, aka Hardy, and is quite
old now (October 2006).
In my 8.10 Intrepid system, there is 7.1.314 (June 08) from the
repositories, and 7.2.141 compiled from the source, and I don't see
your problem.

Regards, John

[Tony Mechelynck]

Ever since I bought this computer, I've been using own-compiled builds
of Vim 7.x on it (currently 7.2.141), with openSUSE Linux 10.1 to
(currently) 11.1, and the only zombies I've ever seen are "netstat"
zombies created (as shown by their PPID) by Firefox 2. No other zombies
whatsoever. That's as shown by the "top" program, which gives the number
of zombies in its heading, and lists them at top if sorted "descending"
(Z to R) on the "S" (status) column.

(I don't know if it's relevant, but I use Console Vim much less than
gvim, and when I do it's almost always the GUI-enabled binary which I
also run as gvim.)

Spiros, if you're interested in compiling your own Vim for Linux, check
my HowTo page, http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/vim/compunix.htm

Best regards,
Tony.
--
Happiness is having a scratch for every itch.
-- Ogden Nash

[Andreas Bernauer]

John Little wrote:
> On Mar 16, 12:58 am, Spiros wrote:
>>>> :%! some_executable
>>>> the executable becomes a zombie after it terminates and
>>>> remains a zombie until I exit vim.
>> Ubuntu GNU/Linux.
>> The version from the /var/lib/dpkg/status file is
>> Version: 1:7.0-035+1ubuntu5
>
> That's the version, 7.0.135, in Ubuntu 8.04, aka Hardy, and is quite
> old now (October 2006).

Hardy can be updated to 8.04.2.
It has vim 7.1.138, where I don't see the problem.

Besides, I don't see the problem on SunOS 5.8 with a vim 6.3.
So maybe there is some other reason but vim?

--
Andreas.