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SubjectRe: Out of memory?
On Sun, 20 Aug 2000, Adam wrote:

>
> > Or perhaps a tunable or compile-time option to turn off overcommits?
>
> FYI, something aproximately like that already exists...
>
> sh-2.04$ cat /proc/sys/vm/overcommit_memory
> 0

Yep - at least, it LOOKS that way. In fact, it's a complete misnomer:
with that value set to 0, you get "normal" Linux behaviour. Otherwise,
processes receive demand-allocated memory: malloc() and friends will
ALWAYS "succeed", then the memory is really allocated once you write to
it.

There are a few "tricks" to ensure malloc() & co only ever return "real"
memory; the trouble is, this behaviour cripples Linux as a WWW server or
similar, as well as wasting a LOT of swap space for no apparent gain.

Resource limits are probably a better way to go to solve this sort of
problem. That, and the various process-killing add-ons mentioned last time
this topic cropped up.


James.

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