You attempt to stop a runaway user process by running kill 4242 (with no additional options). Which of the following best explains what will occur when the TERM signal (signal 15) reaches that process on a typical Linux system?
The kernel immediately halts the process without allowing any cleanup or signal handling.
The process is suspended (stopped) until it later receives a CONT signal to resume execution.
The process receives a catchable request to terminate and may run its own cleanup code before exiting.
All child processes are first killed by the kernel, and then the parent is forcibly terminated.
When you invoke kill without specifying a signal, the utility sends SIGTERM (signal 15). SIGTERM's default action is to terminate the process, but it is a catchable and ignorable signal. If the targeted program has installed a handler, it can intercept the signal, perform cleanup activities such as flushing buffers or closing files, and then exit voluntarily. Because the signal is catchable, the process may ignore it or fail to handle it, in which case it will remain running until a stronger signal (for example, SIGKILL 9) is sent. SIGTERM does not freeze the task, does not forcibly kill it without cleanup, and does not automatically propagate to or kill any child processes.
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What is the difference between SIGTERM and SIGKILL?
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