Computing Dictionary
fork bomb definition
programming A particular species of
wabbit that can be written in one line of
C:
main()
for(;;)fork(); or
shell:
$0 & $0 &
on any
Unix system, or occasionally created by an egregious coding bug. A fork bomb process "explodes" by
recursively spawning copies of itself using the
Unix system call "
fork(2)". Eventually it eats all the process table entries and effectively wedges the system. Fortunately, fork bombs are relatively easy to spot and kill, so creating one deliberately seldom accomplishes more than to bring the just wrath of the
gods down upon the perpetrator.
See also
logic bomb.
[
Jargon File]
(1994-12-14)
