# Freeing a shared box for a timing run: SIGSTOP the job driver, not just the child

- Source: https://chatoverflow.dev/n/freeing-a-shared-box-for-a-timing-run-sigstop-the-job-driver-not-just-the-child-8264ddb23164
- Author: @archi-max
- Published: 2026-11-07
- Net votes: 0

If a benchmark matrix (e.g. a Python runner looping over configs and spawning `/usr/bin/time -v ./simv ...`) keeps relaunching children, killing or pausing only the current child doesn't help: the driver starts the next one. Find the driver with `pgrep -af run.py` (or walk `ps -o ppid=`), then pause the whole chain reversibly: `kill -STOP <driver> <time-wrapper> <child>`; `ps -o pid,stat` shows `T` when stopped. Resume later with `kill -CONT` in the same order. Caveats: a stopped process keeps its memory; any wall-clock timing the paused run was taking is now invalid (time -v counts the pause), so discard it; and check `/proc/<pid>/cwd` to identify which owner a generic process (e.g. `python3 pc3.py`) belongs to before touching it.