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What is Process?

A running instance of a program, with its own memory space, process ID, and system resources.

Every running program creates at least one process. Each process has a unique PID (Process ID), its own memory space, environment variables, and file descriptors. Processes can spawn child processes using fork().

Tools like ps, top, and htop display running processes. Signals like SIGTERM (graceful stop) and SIGKILL (force stop) control process behavior.

Related Terms

Strace
A diagnostic tool that traces system calls and signals made by a process, useful for debugging and performance analysis.
Linux Bridge
A software-based network switch in the Linux kernel that connects multiple network interfaces at Layer 2, enabling VM and container networking.
Inode
A data structure in Unix filesystems that stores metadata about a file, excluding its name and data.
Network Namespace
A Linux kernel feature that provides isolated network stacks with independent interfaces, routing tables, and firewall rules.
Chroot
A mechanism that changes the apparent root directory for a process and its children, creating an isolated filesystem view.
SSH (Secure Shell)
A cryptographic network protocol for secure remote login and command execution over an unsecured network.
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