Which signal should be used if you want to stop a process temporarily?

Using SIGSTOP is appropriate when you want to temporarily stop a process. This signal instructs the operating system to halt the process execution without terminating it, effectively pausing its state. This is particularly useful for debugging or managing processes, as it allows you to later resume the process from where it was stopped, using a signal such as SIGCONT.

SIGKILL, while it forcefully terminates a process, does not allow for graceful shutdown or pausing, which is not suitable when the intent is to temporarily halt execution. SIGQUIT, on the other hand, does not merely stop a process but causes it to terminate and produce a core dump. SIGCONT is meant to resume a paused process and is not used for stopping; rather, it complements SIGSTOP by allowing the process to continue executing after being paused. Thus, SIGSTOP is the correct choice for temporarily halting a process without termination.