On Feb 1, 2008, at 3:21 PM, Uwe Kubosch wrote: > Can anybody explain to me why child processes continue to live after > their parent process has ended? google 'zombie process' it's up to you to make sure that children do not outlive their parent. under many circumstances ruby will take of this before you but there are certain situations which no process cannot deal with... my slave lib addresses this in a full proof way, but a solid understanding of process management is required to use it. regards. a @ http://codeforpeople.com/ -- share your knowledge. it's a way to achieve immortality. h.h. the 14th dalai lama