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fork bomb n.
[Unix] A particular species of wabbit
that can be written in one line of C (main()
{for(;;)fork();}) or shell ($0 & $0 &) on any Unix system,
or occasionally created by an egregious coding bug. A fork bomb
process `explodes' by recursively spawning copies of itself
(using the Unix system call fork(2)). Eventually it eats
all the process table entries and effectively wedges the system.
Fortunately, fork bombs are relatively easy to spot and kill, so
creating one deliberately seldom accomplishes more than to bring
the just wrath of the gods down upon the perpetrator. See also
logic bomb.
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