garnome 2.8.2.1: lots of [process <defunct>]

[Riko Wichmann <Riko Wichmann desy de>]

Hi all,

since I'm running garnome2.8.2.1, I find MANY processes, which are 
defunct. This includes for example dozend of entries for gkrellm, 
gnubiff,  java_vm, but also programs like firefox. For example:

> ps -x
[...]
 4847 ?        Z      0:00 [gkrellm <defunct>]
 4850 ?        Z      0:00 [gkrellm <defunct>]
 4873 ?        Z      0:00 [gnubiff <defunct>]
 4886 ?        Z      0:00 [gnubiff <defunct>]
 4897 ?        Z      0:00 [gnubiff <defunct>]
 4900 ?        Z      0:00 [gnubiff <defunct>]
 4904 ?        Z      0:00 [gnubiff <defunct>]
 4905 ?        Z      0:00 [firefox-bin <defunct>]
 4906 ?        Z      0:00 [firefox-bin <defunct>]
[...]

This goes on for pages and pages.  That was not the case with my old 
gnome installation. So far, it doesn't seem to be a problem. Everything 
seems to be running ... at least most of the time. Sometimes, gnubiff 
stops or pieces of gkrellm, but I don't know if that is related to this 
<defunct>'s.

Can somebody explain to me, why this is happening and is there a way to 
prevent it?

Thanks and cheers,

	Riko