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Actually, I quite like Bob's answer.

The signals I use are:

• -1 (-HUP) - restart a process
• -2 (-INT) - terminate a process
• -9 (-KILL) - let the kernel kick the process out
• -11 (-SEGV) - have the program crash brutally
• -15 (-TERM) - the default, ask the program kindly to terminate.

Kill without signal will send -15 (-TERM).

All the above signal names can be specified the SIG prefix (e.g. -SIGKILL), this, however, is optional.

Note, kill -11 will force the program to exit with a segmentation fault, I use it sometimes, when kill -9 won't terminate a process. (You might lose data if you issue kill -9 or kill -11 on a process, so beware!)

You use ps -ef | grep <program> to inspect the process. To get rid of a process (which has parent PID 1), you have to kill -HUP 1 or kill -1 1 (both as root). Note that PID 1 is you init system.

So, to terminate a process, issue kill <pid> (the exact same as kill -15 <pid>), if that fails I try these others (you could lose data!), kill -2 <pid> (akin to doing Ctrl+c), if that fails kill -9 <pid>, if that fails kill -11 <pid>, if that fails the process is most likely a zombie process, ensure that is the case using ps -ef | grep <program_name> or ps -ef | grep <pid>, it should mention "defunct" after the process. This is when you issue kill -1 1.

Some programs, such as Java JVM's, can be configured to dump threads/heap (for troubleshooting) when they receive a signal, in these cases I use kill as well ...

Actually, I quite like Bob's answer.

The signals I use are:

• -1 (-HUP) - restart a process
• -2 (-INT) - terminate a process
• -9 (-KILL) - let the kernel kick the process out
• -11 (-SEGV) - have the program crash brutally
• -15 (-TERM) - the default, ask the program kindly to terminate.

Kill without signal will send -15 (-TERM).

All the above signal names can be specified the SIG prefix (e.g. -SIGKILL), this, however, is optional.

Note, kill -11 will force the program to exit with a segmentation fault, I use it sometimes, when kill -9 won't terminate a process. (You might lose data if you issue kill -9 or kill -11 on a process, so beware!)

You use ps -ef | grep <program> to inspect the process. To get rid of a process (which has parent PID 1), you have to kill -HUP 1 or kill -1 1 (both as root). Note that PID 1 is your init system.

So, to terminate a process, issue kill <pid> (the exact same as kill -15 <pid>), if that fails I try these others (you could lose data!), kill -2 <pid> (akin to doing Ctrl+c), if that fails kill -9 <pid>, if that fails kill -11 <pid>, if that fails the process is most likely a zombie process, ensure that is the case using ps -ef | grep <program_name> or ps -ef | grep <pid>, it should mention "defunct" after the process. This is when you issue kill -1 1.

Some programs, such as Java JVM's, can be configured to dump threads/heap (for troubleshooting) when they receive a signal, in these cases I use kill as well ...

Actually, I quite like Bob's answer.

The signals I use are:

• -1 (-HUP) - restart a process
• -2 (-INT) - terminate a process
• -9 (-KILL) - let the kernel kick the process out
• -11 (-SEGV) - have the program crash brutally
• -15 (-TERM) - the default, ask the program kindly to terminate.

Kill without signal will send -15 (-TERM).

All the above signal names can be specified the SIG prefix (e.g. -SIGKILL), this, however, is optional.

Note, kill -11 will force the program to exit with a segmentation fault, I use it sometimes, when kill -9 won't terminate a process. (You might lose data if you issue kill -9 or kill -11 on a process, so beware!)

You use ps -ef | grep <program> to inspect the process. To get rid of a process (which has parent PID 1), you have to kill -HUP 1 or kill -1 1 (both as root). Note that PID 1 is you init system.

So, to terminate a process, issue kill <pid> (the exact same as kill -15 <pid>), if that fails I try these others (you could lose data!), kill -2 <pid> (akin to doing Ctrl+c), if that fails kill -9 <pid>, if that fails kill -11 <pid>, if that fails the process is most likely a zombie process, ensure that is the case using ps -ef | grep <program_name> or ps -ef | grep <pid>, it should mention "defunct" after the process. This is when you issue kill -1 1.

Hope that helps ;-)

Some programs, such as Java JVM's, can be configured to dump threads/heap (for troubleshooting) when they receive a signal, in these cases I use kill as well ...

Actually, I quite like Bob's answer.

The signals I use are:

• -1 (-HUP) - restart a process
• -2 (-INT) - terminate a process
• -9 (-KILL) - let the kernel kick the process out
• -11 (-SEGV) - have the program crash brutally
• -15 (-TERM) - the default, ask the program kindly to terminate.

Kill without signal will send -15 (-TERM).

All the above signal names can be specified the SIG prefix (e.g. -SIGKILL), this, however, is optional.

Note, kill -11 will force the program to exit with a segmentation fault, I use it sometimes, when kill -9 won't terminate a process. (You might lose data if you issue kill -9 or kill -11 on a process, so beware!)

You use ps -ef | grep <program> to inspect the process. To get rid of a process (which has parent PID 1), you have to kill -HUP 1 or kill -1 1 (both as root). Note that PID 1 is you init system.

So, to terminate a process, issue kill <pid> (the exact same as kill -15 <pid>), if that fails I try these others (you could lose data!), kill -2 <pid> (akin to doing Ctrl+c), if that fails kill -9 <pid>, if that fails kill -11 <pid>, if that fails the process is most likely a zombie process, ensure that is the case using ps -ef | grep <program_name> or ps -ef | grep <pid>, it should mention "defunct" after the process. This is when you issue kill -1 1.

Some programs, such as Java JVM's, can be configured to dump threads/heap (for troubleshooting) when they receive a signal, in these cases I use kill as well ...

Actually, I quite like Bob's answer.

The signals I use are:

• -1 (-HUP) - restart a process
• -2 (-SIGINT) - terminate a process
• -9 (-KILL) - let the kernel kick the process out
• -11 (-SIGSEGV) - have the program crash brutally
• -15 (-TERM) - the default, ask the program kindly to terminate.

Kill without signal will send -15 (-TERM).

Note, kill -11 will force the program to exit with a segmentation fault, I use it sometimes, when kill -9 won't terminate a process. (You might lose data if you issue kill -9 or kill -11 on a process, so beware!)

You use ps -ef | grep <program> to inspect the process. To get rid of a process (which has parent PID 1), you have to kill -HUP 1 or kill -1 1 (both as root). Note that PID 1 is you init system.

So, to terminate a process, issue kill <pid> (the exact same as kill -15 <pid>), if that fails I try these others (you could lose data!), kill -2 <pid> (akin to doing Ctrl+c), if that fails kill -9 <pid>, if that fails kill -11 <pid>, if that fails the process is most likely a zombie process, ensure that is the case using ps -ef | grep <program_name> or ps -ef | grep <pid>, it should mention "defunct" after the process. This is when you issue kill -1 1.

Hope that helps ;-)

Some programs, such as Java JVM's, can be configured to dump threads/heap (for troubleshooting) when they receive a signal, in these cases I use kill as well ...

Actually, I quite like Bob's answer.

The signals I use are:

• -1 (-HUP) - restart a process
• -2 (-INT) - terminate a process
• -9 (-KILL) - let the kernel kick the process out
• -11 (-SEGV) - have the program crash brutally
• -15 (-TERM) - the default, ask the program kindly to terminate.

Kill without signal will send -15 (-TERM).

All the above signal names can be specified the SIG prefix (e.g. -SIGKILL), this, however, is optional.

Note, kill -11 will force the program to exit with a segmentation fault, I use it sometimes, when kill -9 won't terminate a process. (You might lose data if you issue kill -9 or kill -11 on a process, so beware!)

You use ps -ef | grep <program> to inspect the process. To get rid of a process (which has parent PID 1), you have to kill -HUP 1 or kill -1 1 (both as root). Note that PID 1 is you init system.

So, to terminate a process, issue kill <pid> (the exact same as kill -15 <pid>), if that fails I try these others (you could lose data!), kill -2 <pid> (akin to doing Ctrl+c), if that fails kill -9 <pid>, if that fails kill -11 <pid>, if that fails the process is most likely a zombie process, ensure that is the case using ps -ef | grep <program_name> or ps -ef | grep <pid>, it should mention "defunct" after the process. This is when you issue kill -1 1.

Hope that helps ;-)

Some programs, such as Java JVM's, can be configured to dump threads/heap (for troubleshooting) when they receive a signal, in these cases I use kill as well ...