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I tried parsing a gigantic XML file and I ended up running out of virtual memory. The OS put all my applications on pause and gave me a screen to shutdown applications to free more space. I killed the XML parsing application and now have tons of space but I can't resume my paused applications anymore. What should I do?

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2 Answers

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Find your paused app's process ID (using either Activity Monitor or ps -ax | grep ), then issue it the CONT signal using "kill" in the terminal (don't worry, "kill" is misnamed, it just sends a signal to an app - it's called kill because the default signal is QUIT)

% ps -ax | grep Safari
  461 ??        61:22.30 /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/Safari -psn_0_180268
% kill -CONT 461
%
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cool stuff! thanks for the advice! – Xster Mar 28 '10 at 15:39
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thanks for the hint! but it lead me into this similar solution: simply using killall -CONT Safari - feel free to add this to your answer! ;) – Cawas Apr 13 '11 at 15:46
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Is there an easy way to find out which processes have been paused? – asmeurer May 24 '12 at 23:04
Any advice on a situation where Terminal is in paused state? – Jawa Dec 23 '12 at 12:05
@Jawa - open iterm if you have it, or X11, to get at the terminal some other way. Alternatively, ssh in from another machine. But these are workarounds, I'd love a better solution – keflavich Dec 23 '12 at 19:40
up vote 1 down vote

This article mentions an app called 'pauser' which might help.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/four-free-tools-to-monitor-manipulate-running-processes-mac/

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