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SubjectRe: New Feature Idea: Compress swap file
On 19 Feb 1998, Jim Pick wrote:
> Adam Heath <adam.heath%usa.net@localhost.rutgers.edu> writes:
>
> > How about, when using swap, it is compressed before it is written out?
>
> Can't this already be done by using mkswap to make a swap file on a
> compressed ext2 filesystem?

Sorry Jim and Adam, compressed swap has already been
implemented and tried. The results were:
- more CPU spent on swapping --> slower system
- more I/O spent on swapping because the I/O patterns
became more complex than normal swap --> slower system

Compressed swap would only make sense when:
- paging space is short
- you are actually _swapping_ (suspending_) some
process to alleviate the above problem

This way, we could make sure that paging space remains
free, by doing the following when memory is short:
- swap out compressed images of some processes
- don't allow anyone but root to fork() or create
another adress space (when memory is really tight)

This way, a system will stay up, regardless of what.
This feature might be important for some people, and
very nice for most of us.

Rik.
+-----------------------------+------------------------------+
| For Linux mm-patches, go to | "I'm busy managing memory.." |
| my homepage (via LinuxHQ). | H.H.vanRiel@fys.ruu.nl |
| ...submissions welcome... | http://www.fys.ruu.nl/~riel/ |
+-----------------------------+------------------------------+


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