2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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fork bomb
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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n. [Unix] A particular species of wabbit that can be written in one line of
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C ( main() {for(;;)fork(); }) or shell ( $0 $0 ) on any Unix system, or
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occasionally created by an egregious coding bug. A fork bomb process
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explodes by recursively spawning copies of itself (using the Unix system
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call fork (2) ). Eventually it eats all the process table entries and
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effectively wedges the system. Fortunately, fork bombs are relatively easy
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to spot and kill, so creating one deliberately seldom accomplishes more than
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to bring the just wrath of the gods down upon the perpetrator. Also called a
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fork bunny. See also logic bomb.
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