PHP 7.0.6 Released

    apache_child_terminate

    (PHP 4 >= 4.0.5, PHP 5, PHP 7)

    apache_child_terminate — Terminate apache process after this request

    Description

    bool apache_child_terminate ( void )

    apache_child_terminate() will register the Apache process executing the current PHP request for termination once execution of PHP code is completed. It may be used to terminate a process after a script with high memory consumption has been run as memory will usually only be freed internally but not given back to the operating system.

    Return Values

    Returns TRUE if PHP is running as an Apache 1 module, the Apache version is non-multithreaded, and the child_terminate PHP directive is enabled (disabled by default). If these conditions are not met, FALSE is returned and an error of level E_WARNING is generated.

    Changelog

    Version Description
    5.4.0 This function became available under FastCGI. Previously, it was supported only when PHP was installed as an Apache module.

    Notes

    Note: This function is not implemented on Windows platforms.

    See Also

    • exit() - Output a message and terminate the current script

    User Contributed Notes

    Stephan Ferraro
    5 years ago
    I found out a solution for Apache 2. However this works only without threads and only on POSIX compatible OS systems (e.g. Linux, OpenSolaris...).

    <?php

    // Terminate Apache 2 child process after request has been
    // done by sending a SIGWINCH POSIX signal (28).
    function kill_on_exit() {
    posix_kill( getmypid(), 28 );
    }

    register_shutdown_function( 'kill_on_exit' );

    ?>
    louis at ewens dot com
    8 years ago
    Apache child processes are greedy. If they get bloated by a PHP application that requires a lot of memory, they stay that way. The memory is never given back to the OS until that child dies.

    You could use MaxRequestsPerChild in Apache to kill all child processes automatically after a certain number of connections. Or you can use apache_child_terminate to kill the child after your memory intensive functions.

    Note: apache_child_terminate is not available in Apache 2.0 handler.
    daniele_dll at yahoo dot it
    8 years ago
    In response to sam at liddicott dot com:

    it isin't so simple! You should never kill an apache process because it is automatically freed when apache need!

    And, if you use apache worker or thread based mpm you risk to kill the entire process!

    result: DO NOT USE THIS FUNCTION!
    admin at hostultra dot com
    8 years ago
    this code will add apache_child_terminate() function if it is not already present.

    if (!function_exists("apache_child_terminate")){
    function apache_child_terminate(){
    register_shutdown_function("killonexit");
    }

    function killonexit(){
    @exec("kill ".getmypid());
    }
    }
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