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>> OK, that's right. How can I find out if 4GB RAM (the current amount) |
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>> is enough? From what I understand of how Linux handles memory, it |
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>> will fill it up as quickly as possible, and then free it as necessary. |
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>> This makes it difficult to determine how much RAM is necessary from |
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>> watching top. |
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> |
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> top lies. This has been discussed here many times. All your memory tools |
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> essentially tell you how much memory an app is able to see into, and most of |
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> that memory is shared with other stuff (like libs). |
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> |
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> You can't tell how much memory an app is using in any meaningful way, you are |
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> not supposed to even look at it as it changes millions of times a second. What |
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> you are supposed to do is select an allocation algorithm that works well for |
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> you in practice and let the kernel do the heavy lifting. |
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> |
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> Yes, the kernel does grab as much memory as it can for buffers and cache, then |
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> release it on demands. All modern operating systems have done this for many |
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> years - Linux just doesn't try and hide that fact from you :-) |
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> |
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>> I read on this list that the kernel needs *some* swap, even just a |
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>> tiny amount, to function properly. Is that true? If so, do you think |
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>> it would be OK to put this tiny amount of swap on a cheap SSD? |
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> |
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> Not true. I have machines with zero swap and they work just fine. I am utterly |
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> unconcerned with out of memory conditions as whether you have swap or not, |
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> when virtual memory runs out, either way you have a horrible cockup that is |
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> hard to fix. Then there's the oom-killer that comes along, stomps all over |
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> everything and just makes it worse. |
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|
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Sounds good. Will commenting the swap line out of /etc/fstab and |
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rebooting disable swap? In order to resize the root partition to |
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include the swap paritition, I'll have to boot to LiveCD right? |
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|
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- Grant |