HPUX version B.11.23 as reported by uname -a
Start with default signal I believe is -15
#kill PID
Process still present.
#kill -9 PID
Process still present, even after repeated attempt and waiting.
PPID becomes 1 which is the init process
started at boot time.
So far only way to stop has been to reboot host.
Any suggestions, HP support has been unhelpful.
Unkillable processes are usually trying to complete a system call. The process will die once the system call completes. If you use glance you can see what the process is waiting for. If the process is inappropriately unkillable, the culprit is usually a defective driver.
Thanks for response.
The processes that I want to kill have been hanging one one host since I posted the question. Waiting has not been the issue. I should be able to kill any process, regardless of what it may be waiting for. I have not ever had this kind of problem with same code ported to SGI IRIX or RedHat Linux.
I do not know what glance is , but will try to find it.
Most of the unkillables are ssh connections that scripts are using to collect
information from redundant hosts in a group. But I have had instances where
scripts and C compiled binaries have overloaded a system causing me to
attempt cleanup by killing them, but they will not die... thereby mu only recourse was to reboot. These same programs are then fine after reboot.
I was curious as to whether there was a known hpux kernel bug that I could repair.
No you shouldn't. As one example, mkdir() requires several io operations. If it starts but does not complete, the file system is in an illegal state.
no any other way to kill these sleeping processes but reboot?? If the process goes to sleeping/hanging, do I have to reboot again and again? Here is the status of the sleeping process.
$cat /proc/4006/status
Name: epiphany
State: T (tracing stop)
Tgid: 4006
Pid: 4006
PPid: 1
TracerPid: 4140
Uid: 1000 1000 1000 1000
Gid: 100 100 100 100
FDSize: 256
Groups: 90 92 100
VmPeak: 307980 kB
VmSize: 199840 kB
VmLck: 68 kB
VmHWM: 82252 kB
VmRSS: 72340 kB
VmData: 95368 kB
VmStk: 112 kB
VmExe: 2288 kB
VmLib: 98780 kB
VmPTE: 208 kB
Threads: 2
SigQ: 3/8125
SigPnd: 0000000000000000
ShdPnd: 0000000000004000
SigBlk: fffffffe7ffbfeff
SigIgn: 0000000000001000
SigCgt: 00000001800044ff
CapInh: 0000000000000000
CapPrm: 0000000000000000
CapEff: 0000000000000000
CapBnd: ffffffffffffffff
voluntary_ctxt_switches: 100601
nonvoluntary_ctxt_switches: 77648
I am using Archlinux.
Which HP-UX has /proc?
Tru64 does but my 11.11s, 11.23s and 11.31s dont
I use Archlinux 
By the way, do you use HP-UX workstation???
I have a 715 and a B180 at home but not switched on for at least 4 years now... (I have kids now...)