Gradual Increase in memory usage

[Peter Santiago]

> At 09:13 2/4/2004, you wrote:
>>I am not sure if this is a problem with the kernel or due to the nature
>> of
>>the programs I am running....
>> From a fresh boot, memory usage averages around the 170 MB  and as time
>>passes it gradually increases to grab nearly all the available RAM
>> (500MB)
>
> This is a FAQ.
>
> In short: it is not a bad thing. Linux sees free memory, and rather than
> wasting idle resources uses it as disk cache and for buffers. So while the
> memory is being used, it is not /in use/ as far as your interpretation of
> the above. It will be released to applications if/when you need it at a
> moment's notice.
>
> Type the command "free" and read it carefully, especially the second line
> which shows the effect of subtracting the cache/buffers. I'm sure you'll
> find that you are actually using only what you thought.

I think I get the picture.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.
If Fedora ever touches the swap file, once it has allocated the requisite
amount of it, and finished using it, the OS will not imeediately
deallocate the swapfile but rather it would lie in wait  till there's
another process that will be needing it.  So I don't really need to worry
about the condition.  The only time I'll get worried is when disk swapping
happens often, indicating that real memory is not enough.
>
> I'll be happy not to bother you about the tagline. However, if you want to
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Noted...  Thanks for the reminder.
>
>
> --
> Rodolfo J. Paiz
> rpaiz at simpaticus.com
> http://www.simpaticus.com
>

--
Peter Santiago         peters at psinergybbs.com
My website:            www.psinergybbs.com
My spamtrap address:   r34987y at psinergybbs.com

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