I seem to remember that there were some problems with zombie subprocesses on Solaris before. I couldn't find anything in the list-archives. Was this ever understood and fixed? Anyway, when using AucTeX or igrep I sometimes (but not always) see processes like this: ge204 13667 13239 0 0:00 <defunct> ge204 13239 26782 1 15:45:36 pts/2 0:55 xemacs-21.1 Should I start looking where the signal is lost? Any hints? I have seen this under 21.0.67 as well. Gunnar uname -a: SunOS roo 5.5 Generic_103093-25 sun4u sparc ../xemacs-21.1.3/configure '--compiler=cc' '--with-pop' '--with-workshop' '--x-includes=/usr/openwin/include' '--x-libraries=/usr/openwin/lib' '--site-prefixes=/home/tigger3/ge204/local-sol /usr/local' '--prefix=/tools/emacs' '--ldflags=-Wl,-znoversion' XEmacs 21.1-p3 "Acadia" configured for `sparc-sun-solaris2.5'. Where should the build process find the source code? /home/tigger3/ge204/src/xemacs-21.1.3 What installation prefix should install use? /tools/emacs What operating system and machine description files should XEmacs use? `s/sol2.h' and `m/sparc.h' What compiler should XEmacs be built with? cc -v -xO4 Should XEmacs use the GNU version of malloc? yes Should XEmacs use the relocating allocator for buffers? yes What window system should XEmacs use? x11 Where do we find X Windows header files? /usr/dt/include /usr/openwin/include Where do we find X Windows libraries? /usr/dt/lib /usr/openwin/lib Additional prefixes: /home/tigger3/ge204/local-sol /usr/local Runtime library search path: /usr/local/lib:/usr/ccs/lib:/usr/dt/lib:/usr/openwin/lib:/opt/SUNWdt/lib Compiling in support for XAUTH. Compiling in support for XPM images. Compiling in support for PNG image handling. Compiling in support for (builtin) GIF image handling. Compiling in support for JPEG image handling. Compiling in support for X-Face message headers. Compiling in native sound support. Compiling in support for Berkeley DB. Compiling in support for DBM. Compiling in support for ToolTalk. Compiling in support for Sun WorkShop. Compiling in support for proper session-management. Using Lucid menubars. Using Lucid scrollbars. Using Motif dialog boxes. Compiling in DLL support. movemail will use "dot-locking" for locking mail spool files. Using POP for mail access -- Gunnar Evermann Speech, Vision & Robotics Group Engineering Department Cambridge University