In Linux, which state describes a process that is temporarily halted by receiving a signal?

The concept of a process being temporarily halted by receiving a signal refers to the "interruptible sleep" state. In this state, a process is waiting for an event or condition (like I/O operation completion or a signal from another process) but can be interrupted by signals. When a process is in interruptible sleep and it receives a signal, it will stop waiting and be transitioned back to a runnable state, allowing it to continue execution.

This contrasts with uninterruptible sleep, where a process is also waiting but cannot be easily awakened by signals, making it suitable for situations where the process must wait until a specific condition is met without interruption. The running state is when a process is actively executing on the CPU, and the terminated state indicates a process that has completed execution and is no longer in memory. Thus, the distinction of being able to temporarily halt and resume execution, specifically due to receiving a signal, highlights why "interruptible sleep" accurately describes the state of the process in question.