killing multiple child processes

[CoyiCodes]

Details

Hi I am trying to kill a process but I can not do it. I created a flask server with python and packed it with pyinstaller. When I start my electron app I start the process like this ( and it starts ok):

This is used under app.on('ready'...)

const { execFile, spawn } = require('child_process');
var kill = require('tree-kill');
let child;

function startExecutable() {
    let browseDirectory = process.cwd() + "/api/Tracker.exe"
    child = execFile(browseDirectory)
}

This creates 2 processes:

I am trying to kill the process on app.on('window-all-closed'...)

function stopExecutable() {
    // console.log(child.pid)
    // child.kill('SIGKILL')
    // kill(child.pid, 'SIGTERM');
    kill(child.pid, 'SIGKILL');
}

But this only kills PID 8868 and other one keeps running.

• I tried using tree-kill, Kill-Process-By-Name packages.
• I tried using child.kill(), child.kill('SIGKILL').
• I tried using spawn(taskkill ['/F', '/IM', 'Tracker.exe', '/T'])

But When I run code the code below on command prompt. It kills all of them

taskkill /F /IM Tracker.exe /T

They all kill only one of the processes. How Do I kill all processes with the same name?

Node.js version

v16.13.1

Example code

No response

Operating system

Windows 10

Scope

code

Module and version

Not applicable.

[krrishdholakia]

@CoyiCodes Are you running the code with elevated privileges? - Clerkie

[CoyiCodes]

elevated privileges

I am packing it with electron-builder then I tried both starting it by duble clicking and runing it as admin. Nothing changed unfortunately.

[xinzhao111]

I also encountered the same problem！I'm so sad

[preveen-stack]

cc @nodejs/child_process PTAL

[hoboly]

taskkill /F /PID xxxx /T can solve the problem

[morningf]

This is the behavior of PyInstaller, see https://pyinstaller.readthedocs.io/en/stable/advanced-topics.html#the-bootstrap-process-in-detail.

[lizhongyue248]

This is the behavior of PyInstaller, see https://pyinstaller.readthedocs.io/en/stable/advanced-topics.html#the-bootstrap-process-in-detail.

You are correct. Do you have any good solutions? At present, I can only kill all associated processes through tree-kill, but I don't think this is the best solution.

[fedehann]

You are correct. Do you have any good solutions? At present, I can only kill all associated processes through tree-kill, but I don't think this is the best solution.

I'm unable to solve the issue even by killing all the associated processes. I tried the following thing:

var kill = require('tree-kill');
let mainProcessPid
...

app.on("ready", () => {
    createWindow();
    mainProcessPid = mainWindow.webContents.getOSProcessId()
})

...

app.on("window-all-closed", () => {
    if(process.platform !== "darwin") {
        // Retrieve main process Pid
        // Kill main process and all the subprocesses
        kill(mainProcessPid)
        // Quit
        app.quit()
    }
})

[morningf]

This is the behavior of PyInstaller, see https://pyinstaller.readthedocs.io/en/stable/advanced-topics.html#the-bootstrap-process-in-detail.

You are correct. Do you have any good solutions? At present, I can only kill all associated processes through tree-kill, but I don't think this is the best solution.

Currently, I'm using the following approach:

1. When starting a Python process, you can obtain its PID.
2. Find another process with the same name but different PIDs.
3. If step 2 finds one, kill this process and automatically terminate it when getting directly obtained by another progress at that time.
4. If step 2 doesn't find any, then directly kill the process corresponding to the given PID.

[RedYetiDev]

Hi! Node.js (AFAIK) doesn't support killing processes by name. If you manage to obtain the PID of the processes to kill, you can do it like that.

Additionally, via the command you provided, taskkill /F /IM Tracker.exe /T, you can kill processes via child_process.

Do you need more help, or can this be closed?

[Cosmicoppai]

That's what I found best, also suggested by others, fairly simple in use and less error prone

function killPythonServer() {
    const killCmd = `tskill processName`;
    spawn('cmd.exe', ['/c', killCmd]);
}

app.on('quit', (event) => {
    killPythonServer();
});

[lizhongyue248]

That's what I found best, also suggested by others, fairly simple in use and less error prone

function killPythonServer() {
    const killCmd = `tskill processName`;
    spawn('cmd.exe', ['/c', killCmd]);
}

app.on('quit', (event) => {
    killPythonServer();
});

But this method only works on Windows...

[Cosmicoppai]

function killPythonServer() {
    const killCmd = `tskill processName`;
    spawn('cmd.exe', ['/c', killCmd]);
}

app.on('quit', (event) => {
    killPythonServer();
});

@lizhongyue248 yeah, I meant we can use the general idea of killing using the process name. Similar action in unix can be achieve via
pkill -f processName

cosmicoppai@CosmicOppai:~$ ps -aux | grep 'LiSA'
cosmico+    1353  5.4  0.7 325836 60480 pts/0    Sl+  07:20   0:00 python3 LiSA.py
cosmico+    1359  0.1  0.5 225672 41256 pts/0    Sl+  07:20   0:00 python3 LiSA.py
cosmico+    1364  0.0  0.5 225672 40988 pts/0    Sl+  07:20   0:00 python3 LiSA.py
cosmico+    1370  0.0  0.5 225672 40960 pts/0    Sl+  07:20   0:00 python3 LiSA.py
cosmico+    1377  0.0  0.5 225672 40904 pts/0    Sl+  07:20   0:00 python3 LiSA.py
cosmico+    1748  0.0  0.0   4032  2036 pts/2    S+   07:20   0:00 grep --color=auto LiSA
cosmicoppai@CosmicOppai:~$ pkill -f LiSA
cosmicoppai@CosmicOppai:~$ ps -aux | grep 'LiSA'
cosmico+    1802  0.0  0.0   4032  2020 pts/2    S+   07:20   0:00 grep --color=auto LiSA
cosmicoppai@CosmicOppai:~$