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As a result of the pipe in x | y, a subshell is created to contain the pipeline as part of the foreground process group. This continues to create subshells (via fork()) indefinitely, thus creating a fork bomb.

$ for (( i=0; i<3; i++ )); do
>     echo "$BASHPID"
> done
16907
16907
16907
$ for (( i=0; i<3; i++ )); do
>    echo "$BASHPID" | cat
> done
17195
17197
17199

The fork does not actually occur until the code is run, however, which is the final invocation of : in your code.

To disassemble how the fork bomb works:

• :() - define a new function called :
• { :|: & } - a function definition that recursively pipes the calling function into another instance of the calling function in the background
• : - call the fork bomb function

This tends to not be too memory intensive, but it will suck up PIDs extremely quickly.

As a result of the pipe in x | y, a subshell is created to contain the pipeline as part of the foreground process group. This continues to create subshells (via fork()) indefinitely, thus creating a fork bomb.

$ for (( i=0; i<3; i++ )); do
>     echo "$BASHPID"
> done
16907
16907
16907
$ for (( i=0; i<3; i++ )); do
>     echo "$BASHPID" | cat
> done
17195
17197
17199

The fork does not actually occur until the code is run, however, which is the final invocation of : in your code.

To disassemble how the fork bomb works:

• :() - define a new function called :
• { :|: & } - a function definition that recursively pipes the calling function into another instance of the calling function in the background
• : - call the fork bomb function

This tends to not be too memory intensive, but it will suck up PIDs and consume CPU cycles.

As a result of the pipe in x | y, a subshell is created in the the foreground process group to contain the pipeline. This continues to create subshells (via fork()) indefinitely, thus creating a fork bomb.

$ for (( i=0; i<3; i++ )); do
>     echo "$BASHPID"
> done
16907
16907
16907
$ for (( i=0; i<3; i++ )); do
>    echo "$BASHPID" | cat
> done
17195
17197
17199

The fork does not actually occur until the code is run, however, which is the final invocation of : in your code.

To disassemble how the fork bomb works:

• :() - define a new function called :
• { :|: & } - a function definition that recursively pipes the calling function into another instance of the calling function in the background
• : - call the fork bomb function

This tends to not be too memory intensive, but it will suck up PIDs extremely quickly.

As a result of the pipe in x | y, a subshell is created to contain the pipeline as part of the foreground process group. This continues to create subshells (via fork()) indefinitely, thus creating a fork bomb.

$ for (( i=0; i<3; i++ )); do
>     echo "$BASHPID"
> done
16907
16907
16907
$ for (( i=0; i<3; i++ )); do
>    echo "$BASHPID" | cat
> done
17195
17197
17199

The fork does not actually occur until the code is run, however, which is the final invocation of : in your code.

To disassemble how the fork bomb works:

• :() - define a new function called :
• { :|: & } - a function definition that recursively pipes the calling function into another instance of the calling function in the background
• : - call the fork bomb function

This tends to not be too memory intensive, but it will suck up PIDs extremely quickly.

When you perform x | y, as part of the pipe, a subshell is created as part of the the foreground process group to contain the pipeline. Thus, this continues to create subshells (via fork()) indefinitely, thus creating a fork bomb.

$ for (( i=0; i<3; i++ )); do
>     echo "$BASHPID"
> done
16907
16907
16907
$ for (( i=0; i<3; i++ )); do
>    echo "$BASHPID" | cat
> done
17195
17197
17199

The fork does not actually occur until the code is run, however, which is the final invocation of : in your code.

As a result of the pipe in x | y, a subshell is created in the the foreground process group to contain the pipeline. This continues to create subshells (via fork()) indefinitely, thus creating a fork bomb.

$ for (( i=0; i<3; i++ )); do
>     echo "$BASHPID"
> done
16907
16907
16907
$ for (( i=0; i<3; i++ )); do
>    echo "$BASHPID" | cat
> done
17195
17197
17199

The fork does not actually occur until the code is run, however, which is the final invocation of : in your code.

To disassemble how the fork bomb works:

• :() - define a new function called :
• { :|: & } - a function definition that recursively pipes the calling function into another instance of the calling function in the background
• : - call the fork bomb function

This tends to not be too memory intensive, but it will suck up PIDs extremely quickly.