Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S262873AbUD2BvJ (ORCPT ); Wed, 28 Apr 2004 21:51:09 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S262882AbUD2BvJ (ORCPT ); Wed, 28 Apr 2004 21:51:09 -0400 Received: from c3p0.cc.swin.edu.au ([136.186.1.30]:58635 "EHLO swin.edu.au") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S262873AbUD2BvD (ORCPT ); Wed, 28 Apr 2004 21:51:03 -0400 To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org From: Tim Connors Subject: Re: ~500 megs cached yet 2.6.5 goes into swap hell In-reply-to: <4090524C.3020509@yahoo.com.au> References: <409021D3.4060305@fastclick.com> <20040428170106.122fd94e.akpm@osdl.org> <409047E6.5000505@pobox.com> <40904A84.2030307@yahoo.com.au> <20040428205059.A4563@animx.eu.org> <4090524C.3020509@yahoo.com.au> X-Face: "0\RuOFb6AcQ}B_F/^%;;AmS%>"qr*^0t%eriBMe_x]B7&@b8_\i Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 11:51:01 +1000 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1948 Lines: 43 Nick Piggin said on Thu, 29 Apr 2004 10:54:36 +1000: > Wakko Warner wrote: > >>I don't know. What if you have some huge application that only > >>runs once per day for 10 minutes? Do you want it to be consuming > >>100MB of your memory for the other 23 hours and 50 minutes for > >>no good reason? > > > > > > I keep soffice open all the time. The box in question has 512mb of ram. > > This is one app, even though I use it infrequently, would prefer that it > > never be swapped out. Mainly when I want to use it, I *WANT* it now (ie not > > waiting for it to come back from swap) > > > > This is just my oppinion. I personally feel that cache should use available > > memory, not already used memory (swapping apps out for more cache). > > > > On the other hand, suppose that with soffice resident the entire > time, you don't have enough memory to cache an entire kernel tree > (or video you are editing, or whatever). For the kernel example, I only ever compile once before rebooting[1] :) This I think is the kind of thing that a kernel will never automatically detect. This *must* be in the hands of the administrator, who will know what they are doing (hopefully). [1] I have never had enough memory on machines that I use to compile kernels, to cache an entire tree anyway -- I'd much rather mozilla use it than a cache which will never be reused -- TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/ [transporting bed]... across several suburbs and a large salt water harbour. Well, they thoughtfully bridged the harbour in the 1930s, so the problem was actually transporting it across several suburbs and a long single span bridge. -- Hipatia - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/