[This message has also been posted to linux.debian.user.] In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Kevin Mark wrote: > On Sun, Nov 26, 2006 at 11:47:15AM +0200, Tshepang Lekhonkhobe wrote: >> Hi, >> I'm currently running gedit and gnome-terminal for about a week now >> without any noticeable side-effects after uninstalling them (these > what is to notice? > that you are running a program from ram that is not installed? > or that it is running fine for a week?
It's not running from "ram", it's running from the file system. An executable that's "busy" isn't removed when you remove its last link in the directory structure. Its inode still exists, tying up all the relevant disk blocks, and can't be reused until all the processes that were executing it have exited. Unix had that feature when I started using it in '83. It seems to me Debian's upgrade-while-running behavior kind of depends on it. If dpkg(8) removes /sbin/init, the old one better keep running until the installer creates the new one and the old one exec(2)s it. Likewise for the sshd(8) you did it through. -- Cameron http://notwindoze.blogspot.com/2006/11/worlds-worst-unix-clone.html -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
