2000-11-22 12:31:30

by Daniel Stone

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Rik's bad process killer - how to kill _IT_?

Hi,
I've been having a bit of a problem with Rik's new VM, in particular the bad
process-killer. Basically put, I have a reasonably underpowered system
(P166) running Helix GNOME & Sawfish, and half the time when I load my Eterm
(admittedly, transparent, but it looks cool, damnit!), or Netscape (or
both!) it seems to be Rik's VM killer slaying them. No error message is
logged anywhere, not even if I start 'em from the console.
Is there a /proc hack or something?
Thanks a lot!
:) d

--
Daniel Stone
Linux Kernel Developer
[email protected]

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2000-11-22 14:43:07

by Rik van Riel

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Rik's bad process killer - how to kill _IT_?

On Wed, 22 Nov 2000, Daniel Stone wrote:

> I've been having a bit of a problem with Rik's new VM, in particular the bad
> process-killer. Basically put, I have a reasonably underpowered system
> (P166) running Helix GNOME & Sawfish, and half the time when I load my Eterm
> (admittedly, transparent, but it looks cool, damnit!), or Netscape (or
> both!) it seems to be Rik's VM killer slaying them. No error message is
> logged anywhere, not even if I start 'em from the console.

> Daniel Stone
> Linux Kernel Developer
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If you were, you'd have written something that makes sense.

1. my OOM killer *always* spits out a message when it kills
something
2. you haven't written what kernel version you're using;
judging from your lack of error messages you're running
2.2 (which has the nasty habit of killing processes under
heavy load ... I have a patch out which fixes that)

regards,

Rik
--
Hollywood goes for world dumbination,
Trailer at 11.

http://www.conectiva.com/ http://www.surriel.com/

2000-11-22 16:16:58

by Andrea Arcangeli

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Rik's bad process killer - how to kill _IT_?

On Wed, Nov 22, 2000 at 12:07:48PM -0200, Rik van Riel wrote:
> judging from your lack of error messages you're running
> 2.2 [..]

Recent 2.2.x:

if (error_code & 4)
{
if (tsk->oom_kill_try++ > 10 ||
!((regs->eflags >> 12) & 3))
{
printk("VM: killing process %s\n", tsk->comm);
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
do_exit(SIGKILL);
}
else
{
/*
* The task is running with privilegies and so we
* trust it and we give it a chance to die gracefully.
*/
printk("VM: terminating process %s\n", tsk->comm);
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
force_sig(SIGTERM, current);
if (tsk->oom_kill_try > 1)
{
tsk->policy |= SCHED_YIELD;
schedule();
}
return;
}
}

Older 2.2.x:

void oom(struct task_struct * task)
{
printk("\nOut of memory for %s.\n", task->comm);
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
force_sig(SIGKILL, task);
}

In short if he doesn't get any message from the kernel (and the machine doesn't
soft-lockup :) it's not an oom issue.

Andrea

2000-11-22 16:28:40

by Igmar Palsenberg

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Rik's bad process killer - how to kill _IT_?

On Wed, 22 Nov 2000, Daniel Stone wrote:

> Hi,
> I've been having a bit of a problem with Rik's new VM, in particular the bad
> process-killer. Basically put, I have a reasonably underpowered system
> (P166) running Helix GNOME & Sawfish, and half the time when I load my Eterm
> (admittedly, transparent, but it looks cool, damnit!), or Netscape (or
> both!) it seems to be Rik's VM killer slaying them. No error message is
> logged anywhere, not even if I start 'em from the console.
> Is there a /proc hack or something?
> Thanks a lot!

This is NOT the OOM killer. It always logs / sends messages to the
console. The app probably just segfaults.


> :) d


Igmar

2000-11-22 19:54:36

by Daniel Stone

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Rik's bad process killer - how to kill _IT_?

> > Daniel Stone
> > Linux Kernel Developer
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> If you were, you'd have written something that makes sense.

Touche. I didn't claim to be a Linus, but I have got a few things in the
kernel (sb16 driver, netfilter). Plus you can't ask much when I've gone 5
days without sleep just studying. Better than being kicked out of #Linux
(Undernet) for trolling, though.

> 1. my OOM killer *always* spits out a message when it kills
> something

3 other people have pointed this out to me.

> 2. you haven't written what kernel version you're using;
> judging from your lack of error messages you're running
> 2.2 (which has the nasty habit of killing processes under
> heavy load ... I have a patch out which fixes that)

2.4.0-test11.


--
Daniel Stone
Linux Kernel Developer
[email protected]

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
G!>CS d s++:- a---- C++ ULS++++$>B P---- L+++>++++ E+(joe)>+++ W++ N->++ !o
K? w++(--) O---- M- V-- PS+++ PE- Y PGP>++ t--- 5-- X- R- tv-(!) b+++ DI+++
D+ G e->++ h!(+) r+(%) y? UF++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------