how to remove dead process in the "exiting" state

[Chuck Swiger]

Ing. Matej Ondrusek wrote:
[ ... ]
> Isn't it a kernel bug ? I thought that every process must be always
> removable at least with kill -9.

A process cannot ignore "kill -9", correct, but the delivery of signals 
can and will be delayed if the process is blocked-- say, in the middle 
of a system call.  The "IE" flag indicates the process is idle and is 
attempting to exit.  Try "kill -HUP" before doing a "kill -9" and see 
whether that does any better.

-Chuck