RobGrant
17th March 2006 15:33 UTC

nsExec point: child processes
Hey guys

Quick comment/question. nsExec - do things run by it run as a child process of the installer (so in the event of an installer crash, the child processes will not be left running on the system)? I had to kill an install process during an nsExec call, and it left the called process still running.

What happens in that case, and how can I make sure that the system is left tidy even in the (unlikely) event of a crash.

I know the answer is to never let it crash, but it wasn't an error in my code that was the problem. Plus it's better to code defensively :)

Thanks

Rob

kichik
17th March 2006 16:06 UTC

The processes are created as child processes but there's no code that kills everything else in case one part crashes. If nsExec or the installer commit suicide, the running process will be left as is. I think it's better than killing yet another process and it's most definitely simpler.