[olpc-software] graceful handling of out-of-memory conditions

[Jim Gettys]

On Mon, 2006-03-27 at 19:30 -0500, David Zeuthen wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-03-27 at 11:19 -0500, Jim Gettys wrote:
> >  When I say "system components", I use a
> > wider net than just the Linux kernel, but include the X server, Window
> > manager, session manager, but not much else.  I'd like the base
> > environment to be rock solid.
> 
> Hmm, this sounds a but like the 90's; Clearly you're forgetting
> 
>  - D-BUS
>  - HAL
>  - NetworkManager
>  - Avahi
>  - CUPS

Yeah, you're right; except I'm an '80's dinosaur ;-).  Though CUPS can
probably survive being restarted pretty easily and I wouldn't put it in
that category.

> 
> just to name a few crucial "system" components of the Linux desktop de
> jour. I'm not sure why you think the Window or Session Manager are so
> important either, sure, we don't want to lose them, but, really X
> applications can survive when these temporarily goes away - it just
> doesn't look very pretty.
> 

Now it's your turn to be caught out on a limb and have someone saw it
off ;-).

The window manager is the item that knows what applications are most
likely to be used by the user, and will likely be key to decent OOM
behavior.  It knows what's on top, what's iconified, what is covered.
It is the process most likely to be telling the OS what processes have
to be killed in extremis.  Consider it an absolutely essential
component.

And session management of some sort, whether built into a window manager
or separate, is what I'm referring to as a general concept of
understanding what the set of applications the user is using right now,
whether they are instantiated in runnable processes or not.
Maybe I should have used a less loaded term.
                           - Regards,
                                - Jim


-- 
Jim Gettys
One Laptop Per Child