microsoft / microsoft/WSL

Suggestion: Set parent process id (InheritedFromUniqueProcessId) on exec to nt process representing parent

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feature
Dominant language
C++
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Description

I have noticed that when a WSL process exec's then a new nt process is created that is linked to the WSL process. This means that with a usual fork/exec pattern the parent pid of the nt view of the process points to the no longer existent short lived process representing the forked process. This in turn results in diagnostic tools trying to show processes in a tree view won't be able to show the relationship of WSL processes, see e.g. processhacker2/processhacker#153

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Research direction

Start by tracing WSL's fork/exec process-creation path and how the NT process's InheritedFromUniqueProcessId is assigned. Use the Process Hacker issue and its process-tree behavior as the observable reference. Done means an exec-created NT process points to the NT process representing its actual parent, so diagnostic tree views preserve the WSL process relationship.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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