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Relationships Among Processes in an Operating System

Processes in an Operating System interact through various relationships, including parent-child and sibling processes, which are crucial for synchronization and resource sharing. Different types of processes can be independent or cooperating, and they communicate using Interprocess Communication (IPC) methods like pipes and shared memory. Understanding these relationships enhances resource utilization, process management, and system security.

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74 views2 pages

Relationships Among Processes in an Operating System

Processes in an Operating System interact through various relationships, including parent-child and sibling processes, which are crucial for synchronization and resource sharing. Different types of processes can be independent or cooperating, and they communicate using Interprocess Communication (IPC) methods like pipes and shared memory. Understanding these relationships enhances resource utilization, process management, and system security.

Uploaded by

yatakonakiran2
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Relationships Among Processes in an Operating System

1. What is Process Relationship?


Processes in an Operating System (OS) interact with each other in different ways.
Some processes create new processes, while others communicate and share resources.
Understanding these relationships is important for process synchronization,
resource sharing, and system security.

2. Types of Process Relationships


1 Parent and Child Processes
1️⃣
🔹 A process (Parent) creates a new process (Child).
🔹 The child process inherits some attributes from the parent process.
🔹 In Linux/Unix, the fork() system call is used to create child processes.

✔️ Example:

The Terminal (Parent) launches a Python script (Child).

Web browsers (Parent) spawn multiple tabs (Child processes).

📌 Commands to check relationships in Linux:

bash
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ps -ef --forest
bash
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pstree -p
2️⃣ Sibling Processes
🔹 Processes that have the same parent but execute independently.
🔹 Sibling processes do not share memory directly but can communicate.

✔️ Example:

Opening two Word documents in separate windows.

Running two different Python scripts from the same terminal.

3️⃣ Independent vs. Cooperating Processes


🔹 Independent Processes – Do not share data or affect each other.
🔹 Cooperating Processes – Share resources and communicate to perform tasks.

✔️ Example:

Independent: Media Player & Web Browser running separately.

Cooperating: A compiler and linker working together.

4️⃣ Process Hierarchy (Process Tree)


Parent processes create child processes, forming a hierarchy.

If a parent process terminates, the child may become an orphan.

The OS reassigns orphan processes to the init/systemd process.

✔️ Example:

bash
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pstree
3. Process Communication (Interprocess Communication - IPC)
Processes communicate using IPC mechanisms, such as:

IPC Method Description Example


Pipes One-way communication between parent-child `ls
Shared Memory Processes share a common memory space Database systems
Message Queues Processes send & receive messages asynchronously Chat
applications
Sockets Processes communicate over a network Web servers
4. Importance of Process Relationships
✅ Efficient Resource Sharing – Enables multitasking and collaboration.
✅ Better CPU Utilization – Child processes help distribute workload.
✅ Process Synchronization – Helps avoid race conditions & deadlocks.
✅ Security Management – Prevents unauthorized process access.

5. Conclusion
Processes interact in parent-child, sibling, and cooperating relationships. The OS
manages these relationships using process trees, IPC mechanisms, and scheduling
policies to ensure smooth execution.

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