The exited child processes will hang around in Z[ombie] state until wait or waitpid collects their exit status. That means their pid is still in use until you release it.

The exception occurs when you have a $SIG{CHLD} handler. That makes the system think you've handled it already. On some systems you can make nobody care what happens to the kids by setting the handler to 'IGNORE', but that's clearly not your situation.

After Compline,
Zaxo

In reply to Re: Possible waitpid problem - pid reuse? by Zaxo
in thread Possible waitpid problem - pid reuse? by tsteiger

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