2.2.19 memory problems

2.2.19 memory problems

[Mihai Cartoaje]

I write here to report memory problems 'I have encountered with the
later 2.2 series of kernels.

I once ran many versions of gvim without editing any file and
discovered that each subsequent launching took as much memory as the
first: around 1.2-1.6MB, IIRC. Whatever happened to shared memory?

Then this week with 2.2.19, I was in X Windows, and launched
programs many times, and then quit X Windows entirely with Ctrl-Alt
Backspace. I then did a ps -aux to make sure no process remained in
memory other than is normal at start-up. Then I ran free and it
reported 15MB of swap memory was still being used. I have a 16MB
machine and a minimal install which sometimes reports less than
1.5MB used at start-up -- RAM, that is, not swap. I think this is a
problem with 2.2 memory handling.

Mihai

Re: 2.2.19 memory problems

[Alan Cox]

> memory other than is normal at start-up. Then I ran free and it
> reported 15MB of swap memory was still being used. I have a 16MB
> machine and a minimal install which sometimes reports less than
> 1.5MB used at start-up -- RAM, that is, not swap. I think this is a
> problem with 2.2 memory handling.

The kernel will not remove stuff from swap until it is needed. It went to
the trouble of putting it out on disk, it gains nothing from copying it back
until (or if ever) needed