[R] multicore: defunct R processes left

[Ramon Diaz-Uriarte]

Dear All,

At least in three different GNU/Linux systems, the parallel function
from the multicore package leaves defunct (zombie) R processes.

For instance


library(multicore)
parallel(1:5)
collect()


After collect, the child process (with pid as given by collect) is
left defunct. (If we run the last two lines of code again, the
previously defunct process will be replaced by the new defunct
process).

Is this to be expected? The documentation for 'collect' says it
collects results from parallel processes (and I thought it also read
the exit status of the child).



Best,

R.

*******
> packageDescription("multicore")$Version
[1] "0.1-3"
> version
               _
platform       x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
arch           x86_64
os             linux-gnu
system         x86_64, linux-gnu
status         Patched
major          2
minor          10.0
year           2009
month          11
day            05
svn rev        50317
language       R
version.string R version 2.10.0 Patched (2009-11-05 r50317)



-- 
Ramon Diaz-Uriarte
Structural Biology and Biocomputing Programme
Spanish National Cancer Centre (CNIO)
http://ligarto.org/rdiaz
Phone: +34-91-732-8000 ext. 3019