Please don't default to 9. If you kill -9, the process doesn't get a chance to clean up. Default to 15. If you want a "super kill", then do a real one that sequences through 15, waits a few seconds, then 2, then wait a few seconds, then 1, then waits a few seconds, and only then does a 9. That's what shutdown does. Much nicer.

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker