Can you explain what is meant by a process in the Linux operating system?

In Linux, a process is an instance of a running program. A process contains the program code, data, stack, and system resources such as file descriptors and identifiers.

Each process has a unique identifier (PID), a state (e.g., running, waiting, stopped), a priority, and a execution context.

Processes are created using system calls, for example, fork(), which creates a copy of the parent process. After that, exec() is usually called to start a new program within the process context.

Processes can be:

• Background or Foreground
• Child or Parent

Process management is performed using commands like ps, top, kill, and others. Processes are isolated from each other, which ensures system stability and security.