Question 8: Process Termination Signals Which of the below Signals is best to gracefully...
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Question 8: Process Termination Signals
Which of the below Signals is best to gracefully terminate a process?
Show answer & explanation
SIGTERM (signal 15) is the standard termination signal that allows a process to catch, block, or ignore it, enabling graceful cleanup of resources and proper shutdown. SIGKILL cannot be caught or ignored and forces immediate termination. SIGSEGV indicates a segmentation fault (error condition). SIGINT is for user interruption (Ctrl+C) and is less formal than SIGTERM for programmatic termination.
Step-by-step Derivation:
Signal characteristics:
- SIGTERM (15): Termination signal, catchable, allows cleanup → GRACEFUL
- SIGKILL (9): Kill signal, uncatchable, immediate → FORCED
- SIGSEGV (11): Segmentation fault, error condition → NOT FOR TERMINATION
- SIGINT (2): Keyboard interrupt (Ctrl+C) → USER-INITIATED, NOT PROGRAMMATIC
For graceful termination, a process should receive a signal it can handle, perform cleanup (close files, flush buffers, save state), and exit cleanly. Only SIGTERM allows this behavior.