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lazarus
Asked: 2014-09-21 22:21:11 +0800 CST

PID's associated with Chromium multiple tabs and windows?

  • 772

While reading about Linux, I got a $netstat -tulpn to find out which process is listening Upon a port. I got:

anupam@JAZZ:~$ sudo netstat -tulpn
[sudo] password for anupam: 
Active Internet connections (only servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address         State       PID/Program name
tcp        0      0 127.0.1.1:53            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      1827/dnsmasq    
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:631           0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      1992/cupsd      
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:3306          0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      976/mysqld      
tcp6       0      0 :::80                   :::*                    LISTEN      1342/apache2    
tcp6       0      0 ::1:631                 :::*                    LISTEN      1992/cupsd      
tcp6       0      0 :::3689                 :::*                    LISTEN      2582/rhythmbox  
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:631             0.0.0.0:*                           943/cups-browsed
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:37759           0.0.0.0:*                           697/avahi-daemon: r
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:58502           0.0.0.0:*                           1822/dhclient   
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:5353            0.0.0.0:*                           3039/chromium-brows
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:5353            0.0.0.0:*                           697/avahi-daemon: r
udp        0      0 127.0.1.1:53            0.0.0.0:*                           1827/dnsmasq    
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:68              0.0.0.0:*                           1822/dhclient   
udp6       0      0 :::5353                 :::*                                697/avahi-daemon: r
udp6       0      0 :::44452                :::*                                697/avahi-daemon: r
udp6       0      0 :::16540                :::*                                1822/dhclient

There is a single PID for googleChromium, while I have opened multiple windows and multiple tabs in it. I read that chromium uses processes rather than threads http://blog.chromium.org/2008/09/multi-process-architecture.html, as port numbers are used for application to application connection (so I understand that there is a single PID for chromium). But what about PIDs for other processes associated with Chromium??

chromium

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    The Chromium browser indeed uses different processes to render your opened tabs:

    $ps -aef
[...]
sylvain   6432  2223 20 11:19 ?        00:00:02 chromium-browser --enable-pinch                          
sylvain   6441  6432  0 11:19 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/chromium-browser/chrome-sandbox /usr/lib/chromium-browser/chromium-browser --type=zygote
sylvain   6442  6441  1 11:19 ?        00:00:00 chromium-browser --type=zygote                          
sylvain   6446  6442  0 11:19 ?        00:00:00 chromium-browser --type=zygote                          
sylvain   6469  6432  8 11:19 ?        00:00:00 chromium-browser --type=gpu-process --channel=6432.0.2058149686 --supports-dual-gpus=false --gpu-driver-bug-workarounds=1,11,13,15 --disable-accelerated-video-decode --gpu-vendor-
sylvain   6489  6446  1 11:19 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/chromium-browser/chro                          
sylvain   6509  6469  0 11:19 ?        00:00:00 chromium-browser --type=gpu-broker                                                                                                                                                 
root      6516     2  0 11:19 ?        00:00:00 [kworker/0:0]
sylvain   6517  6446 10 11:19 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/chromium-browser/chro                          
sylvain   6541  6446  5 11:20 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/chromium-browser/chro

    In the above example pid 6517 and 6541 are my opened tabs, but like you netstat only returns one network process for Chromium (6432):

    $ sudo netstat -tulpn
[sudo] password for sylvain: 
Active Internet connections (only servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address         State       PID/Program name
tcp        0      0 127.0.1.1:53            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      1966/dnsmasq    
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:631           0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      3804/cupsd      
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:538             0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      1363/gdomap     
tcp6       0      0 ::1:631                 :::*                    LISTEN      3804/cupsd      
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:45410           0.0.0.0:*                           2158/dhclient   
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:5353            0.0.0.0:*                           6432/chromium-brows
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:5353            0.0.0.0:*                           933/avahi-daemon: r
udp        0      0 127.0.1.1:53            0.0.0.0:*                           1966/dnsmasq    
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:68              0.0.0.0:*                           2158/dhclient   
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:68              0.0.0.0:*                           1715/dhclient   
udp        0      0 192.168.1.36:123        0.0.0.0:*                           2956/ntpd       
udp        0      0 192.168.1.40:123        0.0.0.0:*                           2956/ntpd       
udp        0      0 127.0.0.1:123           0.0.0.0:*                           2956/ntpd       
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:123             0.0.0.0:*                           2956/ntpd       
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:49400           0.0.0.0:*                           933/avahi-daemon: r
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:538             0.0.0.0:*                           1363/gdomap     
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:631             0.0.0.0:*                           1187/cups-browsed
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:10080           0.0.0.0:*                           1715/dhclient   
udp6       0      0 :::60417                :::*                                933/avahi-daemon: r
udp6       0      0 :::5353                 :::*                                933/avahi-daemon: r
udp6       0      0 :::47845                :::*                                2158/dhclient   
udp6       0      0 :::8012                 :::*                                1715/dhclient   
udp6       0      0 fe80::3ea9:f4ff:fe1:123 :::*                                2956/ntpd       
udp6       0      0 fe80::3e97:eff:fe81:123 :::*                                2956/ntpd       
udp6       0      0 ::1:123                 :::*                                2956/ntpd       
udp6       0      0 :::123                  :::*                                2956/ntpd

    So why?

    • Chromium uses a multi-process architecture, which isolates render processes from the browser process but...
    • Chromium maintains a single instance of the resource dispatcher, which is shared across all render processes, and runs within the browser kernel process.
    • Each render process communicates with the resource dispatcher via IPC.

    Sources:

    • 5

  2. You can use pgrep -P 3039 to get all the child process IDs of Chromium. Then you can use ps -p "$child_pids" to get information about them. Or use ps --ppid 3039 directly.

    • 1