Version: unspecified (using KDE 4.4.2) OS: Linux While using my PC, I have a constant "stream" of zombie processes appearing, all of them being labelled kded4, and all of them having the only non-zombie kded4 process as parent. "top" shows a new zombie appearing every 10 to 30 seconds (irregularly). Currently, the PC has an uptime of 1:25 and 264 zombie processes, which gives an average of 1 new zombie per 20 seconds. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: I don't do anything, just boot my system and log in to KDE. Actual Results: More and more zombie processes appear. Expected Results: No zombie processes at all, as it ha always been up to KDE 4.3. I am using Kubuntu 10.04.
I have no clue what changed, but now there's just one zombie process being created, which is hardly a problem - though, of course, still undesired.
I am experiencing this. I'm running a fairly new kubuntu 10.04 installation on a new netbook, and I get thousands of defunct kded4 processes. I rebooted about 4 hours ago and just now ran "ps aux | grep kded4 | wc" which shows 1,561 lines. My /home directory is encrypted. kde is version 4.4.2, and kernel is 2.6.32-24. The only thing in any way unusual about my configuration might be a netbook connected to an external monitor.
In the mean time I upgraded to Kubuntu 10.10 with KDE 4.5.1, and now I am still/again seeing tons of zombies as described above. My /home is encrypted, too - I do not use an external monitor though.
I'm running Kubuntu 10.10 (upgraded from 10.04 and previous...) which is up-to-date as of the time of this comment. I've noticed large numbers of kded4 zombies, so I've gathered some data as follows: Firstly, by monitoring the process table and recording times I noted that extra zombies were being added whenever a cron-scheduled script I have was being run. After a re-boot only two zombies were added every time the script was run. Some time later, and for no apparent reason, this increased to three zombies for every time the script was run. I tried various modifications to the script and none affected the behaviour. In fact if I removed the script then the zombies were still being added each time cron tried to run the script. I have an encrypted directory but it is not a home directory. It is mounted in my home directory. Unmounting it did not affect the zombie creation. Deleting the cron job stopped the new zombies from being created. Re-creating the cron job with new (different) times caused the zombies to be added at the new times. Similarly, using the 'at' command to run a job causes three new zombies to be added at the time specified by the 'at' command (doesn't matter whether the job is a valid one or not). I have no idea what the relationship is between kded4 and timed task execution.
I suffer the exact same problem: after 37 hours of uptime I have 453 defunct kded4 processes. The more uptime I have, the more they grows, slowing down the system and rendering it unusable. I also have a cron job executing every 5 minutes (fetchmail) and in effect 453*5 = around 37 hours of time, so it has something to do with this. I've an encrypted file system, running on kubuntu 10.10 and KDE 4.5.3
(In reply to comment #5) > I also have a cron job executing every 5 minutes (fetchmail) and in effect > 453*5 = around 37 hours of time, so it has something to do with this. > > I've an encrypted file system, running on kubuntu 10.10 and KDE 4.5.3 same here. cron job every 5 minutes and encrypted file system on Kubuntu 10.04.
My /home is encrypted, too, using the option provided during Kubuntu installation. However, I did not add any custom additional cronjob, and none of the existing ones seems to have a period of 5 minutes. The uptime is currently barely 8 minutes and I already count more than 20 defunct kded4 processes.
Having a similar problem. kded4 zombies running consuming 1 core apiece. I have an uptime of 20d and update frequently with openSUSE KDE:Factory (4.6 beta1). The rest of the system is @ 11.3/update. I usually kill X after an update and run kill -3 zombiePID and they go away. Restart X, they come back and I can kill them in konsole. Not a problem other than they consume a core if gone unchecked.
Hi! I have the same issue on my working Laptop: Kubuntu 10.04 32bit with the latest KDE 4.5.3 backport. They appear by just login in. I do not have my file system encrypted but have the Private directory with encryptfs In my case a defunct process is spawn each 5 minutes... sintra 3850 1744 0 11:10 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 3864 1744 0 11:15 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 3882 1744 0 11:20 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 3896 1744 0 11:25 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 3912 1744 0 11:30 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 3927 1744 0 11:35 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 3952 1744 0 11:40 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 3968 1744 0 11:45 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 3984 1744 0 11:50 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 3998 1744 0 11:55 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4012 1744 0 12:00 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4027 1744 0 12:05 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4050 1744 0 12:10 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4064 1744 0 12:15 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4081 1744 0 12:20 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4095 1744 0 12:25 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4111 1744 0 12:30 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4123 1744 0 12:35 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4147 1744 0 12:40 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4162 1744 0 12:45 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4176 1744 0 12:50 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4190 1744 0 12:55 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4206 1744 0 13:00 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4220 1744 0 13:05 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4244 1744 0 13:10 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4258 1744 0 13:15 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4276 1744 0 13:20 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4289 1744 0 13:25 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4304 1744 0 13:30 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4318 1744 0 13:35 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4343 1744 0 13:40 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4355 1744 0 13:45 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4369 1744 0 13:50 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4382 1744 0 13:55 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4397 1744 0 14:00 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4411 1744 0 14:05 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4434 1744 0 14:10 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> sintra 4448 1744 0 14:15 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> .... and so on
*** This bug has been confirmed by popular vote. ***
I can confirm this with Kubuntu 10.10 and encrypted /home/janmalte I had several kded4 zombie processes. I can't remember when it exactly started to happen. I had no cron job running until today and will now look, if the number will increase significant with cron jobs.
seems to be fixed in KDE SC 4.6
I've just upgraded to KDE 4.6 and I see the same defunct processes, so the problem is not fixed for me :(
Not fixed for me either: falken@wopr:~$ ps -efw|grep kded4 falken 2037 1 0 Jan28 ? 00:00:08 kdeinit4: kded4 [kdeinit] falken 2321 2037 0 Jan28 ? 00:00:00 [kded4] <defunct> falken 5892 2257 0 13:40 pts/0 00:00:00 grep kded4 falken@wopr:~$ This is 32bit Kubutnu 10.10 (upgraded every 6 months from 9.4) with 4.6 from their backports PPA.
I have to change my statement. This isn't solved for me neither. I got some defunct kded4 processes again.
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 236490 ***