[Techtalk] secret processes?

[Wim De Smet]

Hi,

On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 9:21 PM, Akkana Peck<akkana at shallowsky.com> wrote:
> Carla:
>> > that's not the problem.The problem is I can't stop the playback
>> > of the music file, and it disturbs me to not see a process for it. It is
>> > un-Linux to not be able to track this sort of thing down!
>
> Tracey C writes:
>> Agreed, this is not very Linux like. Offhand, I don't know what process
>
> (Speculation warning, since no one has had a definite answer):
> It might just be that the whole file has been written to the audio
> device, and is sitting in a buffer somewhere, waiting for the
> kernel's audio drivers to finish. It's pretty common not to be
> able to interrupt a driver -- for instance, think about what
> happens when you try to read a bad CD, and your system is messed
> up for the next 5-10 minutes until finally it times out. And
> you wouldn't see any extra process in ps in a case like that.

I propose the experimental approach. Kill pidgin while the sound is
playing and see what happens. :-)

regards,
Wim