Re: [Bug-gnulib] addition: wait-process.h, wait-process.c

[Paul Eggert]

Bruno Haible <address@hidden> writes:

> The code in sdiff is therefore only an optimization to avoid burning some
> CPU cycles in the child process (until the child process writes something),
> and it doesn't work in all cases (namely with 'kill -9').

It also avoids leftover processes in some cases, e.g. if the child
process is waiting on a device or a pipe or something.

> Too much complexity for little gain.

I agree in some cases.  It depends on the application, though.  Some
will need the complexity, others can do without it.  Applications that
are killed "nicely" by signals (common in daemons) will probably need
it.  With sdiff (as with gnulib), one could argue either way.

It might be nice to put a comment about this issue into
wait-process.c, in any event.