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waitpid
A system call a parent process uses to wait for and collect the exit status of its child.
When a program starts a child process, it often needs to know when that child finishes and why. waitpid blocks (or checks) until a specified child changes state and returns its exit information. Crucially, calling it also cleans up the finished child's leftover entry — mzOS2's waitpid does real zombie reaping so terminated children don't linger.
See also
- zombie reapingCleaning up finished child processes that still occupy a slot in the process table.
- userspaceThe world where ordinary programs run, kept separate from the privileged core of the operating system.