[SVN-3408] Subversion creates zombies on unixen

• Type: Bug
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: 1.6.x
• Fix Version/s: ---
• Component/s: libsvn_ra_svn
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Kyle J. McKay
• Created: 30/Apr/09 19:12
• Updated: 27/Oct/18 16:30
• Resolved: 02/Jun/11 10:13

Description

See Bug 2580 http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2580

Basically as of revision 35533 http://svn.collab.net/viewvc/svn?view=revision&revision=35533 (which means 
Subversion release 1.6.0 and later), Subversion creates zombie processes whenever it accesses a repository via the 
svn+ssh scheme on unixen (i.e. Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, NetBSD, etc.)

For a non-command line client, such as a Subversion GUI, that stays running for a while this is a big problem as system 
resources get exhausted as the number of unreaped zombies piles up while the process continues to run.

For command line clients that generally exit right after performing the repository access, the operating system reaps 
the zombies on behalf of the exiting process thereby masking the problem.

Please fix this ASAP.

Bug 2580 http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2580 has extensive details about this including some 
suggested patches to fix the problem.