[25.10] on reboot, many zombie processes

[matt-rw]

Ubuntu Version:
25.10

Desktop Environment (if applicable):
GNOME/wayland

Problem Description:
High CPU usage lately. When I reboot and immediately see the same zombies show up right away.

Any ideas before I start purging packages? (e.g., ubuntu-report)

Relevant System Information:

Dell XPS 13 9310, x86_64

Screenshots or Error Messages:

$ ps aux | grep Z
USER         PID %CPU %MEM    VSZ   RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND
jdoe     3823  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        Z    07:39   0:00 [sh] <defunct>
jdoe      3826  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        Z    07:39   0:00 [snap] <defunct>
jdoe      3829  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        Z    07:39   0:00 [ubuntu-advantag] <defunct>
jdoe      3852  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        Z    07:39   0:00 [ubuntu-report] <defunct>
jdoe      5530  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        Z    07:43   0:00 [sd_espeak-ng-mb] <defunct>
jdoe      5747  0.0  0.0   9464  2436 pts/3    S+   07:46   0:00 grep Z

What I’ve Tried:
List the solutions or workarounds you’ve already attempted.

I already removed deja dup. Ready to do more.

[col.row]

ubuntu-report has neither CPU nor MEM usage. It should stop itself, if there is no pending report. Check if there is a file ~/.cache/ubuntu-report/pending . If so, rename it an ubuntu-report will stop itself next boot.

Btw.: ubuntu-report will be replaced with ubuntu-insights in near future; starting in 25.10 for new installations. If your remove it, it will be not a great loss.

Is your system a clean install or did you perform releaseupgrade?

[matt-rw]

@col.row : thanks. No pending . I did an upgrade, not a fresh install (not a bad idea) but do-release-upgrade.

[matt-rw]

I did find this:

# pwd
/etc
# find . -name '*ubuntu-report*' -print
./xdg/autostart/ubuntu-report-on-upgrade.desktop
./systemd/user/default.target.wants/ubuntu-report.path

Can I just remove the autostart file?

[col.row]

This file is under control of package management. I would make a copy to ~/.config/autostart/ an add a row “Hidden=true”. Then it will be ignored at login.

cp /etc/xdg/autostart/ubuntu-report-on-upgrade.desktop ~/.config/autostart/
echo “Hidden=true” >> ~/.config/autostart/ubuntu-report-on-upgrade.desktop

Edit:

But I think the .desktop is not the problem. To disable the path unit also:

sudo systemctl disable --global ubuntu-report.path

[col.row]

For your interest. ubuntu-report could not send at the moment. Therefore it try and retry. Beginning with 30s and then double up the interval up to half an hour.

col@row:~$ ubuntu-report interactive
This is the result of hardware and optional installer/upgrader that we collected:
{
“Version”: “25.10”,
…
…
Do you agree to report this? [y (send metrics)/n (send opt out message)/Q (quit)] y
ERRO data were not delivered successfully to metrics server, saving for a later automated report: couldn’t send post http request: Post “https://metrics.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/desktop/25.10”: dial tcp: lookup metrics.ubuntu.com on 127.0.0.53:53: server misbehaving
col@row:~$

col@row:~$ ubuntu-report send yes
ERRO data were not delivered successfully to metrics server, saving for a later automated report: incorrect status code received: 500 Internal Server Error
col@row:~$

Well, now I will have a look to ubuntu-advantage.