Why is not the process terminating after executing the command

[Avi Nash]

Hi
The process is not getting terminated after executing a command.
Should not the process get terminated automatically once the command is executed? Or should we terminate it using a separate command.
The code:
try {
Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
Process process = runtime.exec(commandToExecute);
process.waitFor();
System.out.println
("Exitvalue="+process.exitValue ());
is just waiting and not coming out.

rgds
Avinash

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

If the process sent any output to stdout or stderr, it may not terminate until you've read that data, even if you just discard it. Use the getErrorStream() and getInputStream() methods to get the streams.

[Avi Nash]

Hi Ernest
Thanks a lot.
After reading the input stream, the process is getting terminated.
But I am not clear as to why should we read this data for the process to terminate.
thx again
rgds
Avinash