<
operating system> The
Unix process that created one or
more other processes.
Every
process except
process 0 is created when another
process
executes the
fork system call. The
process that invoked
fork is the
parent process, and the newly created
process is
the
child process. Every
process has one
parent process,
but can have many child processes.
The
kernel identifies each
process by its {
process
identifier} (PID).
Process 0 is a special
process that is
created when the system boots; after forking a child
process
(
process 1),
process 0 becomes the
swapper process.
Process
1, known as
init, is the ancestor of every other
process in
the system and enjoys a special relationship with them.
(1997-12-03)