Re: [gentoo-user] Can't kill Firefox!

[Todd Goodman]

* Mick <michaelkintzios@×××××.com> [110723 10:20]:
> On Saturday 23 Jul 2011 14:31:23 Todd Goodman wrote:
> > * Stroller <stroller@××××××××××××××××××.uk> [110723 09:21]:
> > > On 21 July 2011, at 19:48, Dale wrote:
> > > > ...
> > > > I would try to kill it as root.  The -9 option should work.  That
> > > > hasn't failed me yet.  I always run kill commands as root and DOUBLE
> > > > check the PID after typing it in.
> > >
> > > I believe that `kill -9` is bad practice - doesn't it leave memory
> > > allocated to the processes as unrecoverable or something?
> > >
> > > I believe other signals should be attempted first. See the list in `man
> > > kill`. I won't swear to it, but `kill -4` sounds right.
> > >
> > > Stroller.
> >
> > No, a kill -9 shouldn't leave memory allocated.
> >
> > However, it is best to try other signals first because it gives the app
> > a chance to clean up before closing (if they handle the signals.)  But
> > that's also why they don't necessarily work.
> >
> > SIGHUP (kill -1) is the first thing I generally try.  Depending on the
> > app I may try SIGQUIT (kill -15) but generally it's straight to kill -9
> > if the kill -1 doesn't work.
> >
> > Todd
>
> Thanks, I tried kill -15 first and then kill -9.  I also tried pkill, killall,
> but I got no response from firefox and run out of ideas.
>
> What does kill -4 do?  What is ILL?

SIGILL is an illegal instruction.  Not one you'd want to use with kill
in general.

Todd