My guess would be that the postmaster in your container is running with PID=1. The unexpected process was probably started by docker entrypoint before it did exec postgres [...]. As a result, this subprocess became a direct child of the postmaster and we got the problem.
The most common solution is to avoid running postmaster with PID=1. There are two options available: 1. dumb-init 2. start container using "docker run --init [...]" On Thu, 7 May 2026 at 19:37, Torsten Krah <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > > I am running PostgreSQL 18.3 (Debian 18.3-1.pgdg13+1) (docker image) > and found this in my database logs the other day: > > 2026-05-07 18:39:13.947 CEST [1] LOG: untracked child process (PID 33254) > exited with exit code 120 > 2026-05-07 18:39:13.947 CEST [1] LOG: terminating any other active server > processes > 2026-05-07 18:39:14.077 CEST [1] LOG: all server processes terminated; > reinitializing > > > Anyone an idea about that untracked child process and what exit code > 120 of that process would mean / want to tell me? > > Thanks. > > Torsten > > PS: I used https://www.postgresql.org/search/ , but was unsuccessful so > far to get any hints on this, but maybe I just did not find the correct > question yet ;). > > > > -- Regards, -- Alexander Kukushkin
