Shutting down applications and systems

Killing Fields

Article from Issue 145/2012
Author(s):

Linux offers a variety of tools for shutting down systems and processes. We describe some important commands.

Compared with Windows, Linux offers a stable operating system. Every now and again, however, you will need to intervene to stop an application that has frozen or misbehaved. You might also want to shut down the entire system because you want to reboot with a new kernel or edit partitions – or simply because you prefer not to leave your machine running because of the risk of thunderstorms. In any of these situations, you can often use desktop tools, but, as usual, working from the command line gives you more options.

Besides, if your system is experiencing problems, a desktop tool is probably more likely to misbehave than a command-line tool. There’s simply more that can go wrong.

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
Print Issues
Digital Issues
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Print Subs
Digisubs
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Command Line: Processes

    Innumerable processes may be running on your Linux system. We’ll show you how to halt, continue, or kill tasks, and we’ll examine how to send the remnants of crashed programs to the happy hunting grounds.

    more »
  • Command Line: Process Control

    What is happening on your Linux machine? Various shell commands give you details about system processes and help you control them.

    more »
  • systemd Tips

    Sure, you've heard about systemd, which is rapidly replacing the old System V init system as the go-to service management daemon for the Linux world. But what can you do with systemd really? We'll show you some tricks for improving security, managing processes, and analyzing boot times with systemd.

    more »
  • Ask Klaus!

    Klaus talks about the gpm mouse driver for ncurses, auto-login without a password, using Live discs, and associating MIME types.

    more »
  • Ask Klaus!

    Klaus Knopper answers your Linux questions.

    more »
comments powered by Disqus

Visit Our Shop

Trial Subscription

Digital Subscription

Subscribe

Direct Download

Read full article as PDF:

Price $2.95

DevOps

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Events Hardware Linux Linux New Media Linux Pro Magazine Mobile Programming Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source
njobs Europe
What:
Where:
Country:
Njobs Netherlands Njobs Deutschland Njobs United Kingdom Njobs Italia Njobs France Njobs Espana Njobs Poland
Njobs Austria Njobs Denmark Njobs Belgium Njobs Czech Republic Njobs Mexico Njobs India Njobs Colombia