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SubjectRe: Some questions about linux kernel.
On Tue, Mar 14, 2000 at 02:40:27PM -0300, Rik van Riel wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Mar 2000, Peter T. Breuer wrote:
>
> > > For the time being, though, the simple "kill the most likely suspect"
> > > patch should be a pretty good approximation.
> >
> > Nope. It isn't. It's unacceptable in practice.
> >
> > I run labs. The lab machines have to have defenses against
> > _themselves_.
> >
> > Even so, I get reports every couple of days from machines that
> > have obviously killed themselves.
>
> You don't run the OOM killer. You haven't tried it.
> Yet you want to judge it without any knowledge about
> it...

Could I just stress one point which Rik and others keep making and
people keep ignoring? The in-kernel OOM killer is not (meant to be) a
finely-honed user-customisable tool. Its a very effective thing when
the memory state is completely dire. It should never run, and when it
does, its the last-ditch defence and if it wasn't there your system
would die anyway.

If you want something clever and/or subtle, you need to run it in
userland _as well_ as the in-kernel oom killer, and if the userland
thingy does its job, the in-kernel killer should never need to run.

I think Rik gets a ridiculous amount of flak from people who can't be
bothered to try his patch or listen to what he and others are trying
to do, but want to mouth off anyway.

Sean

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