Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Tue, 30 Oct 2001 11:05:43 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Tue, 30 Oct 2001 11:05:34 -0500 Received: from bay-bridge.veritas.com ([143.127.3.10]:50311 "EHLO svldns02.veritas.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Tue, 30 Oct 2001 11:05:25 -0500 Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 16:07:45 +0000 (GMT) From: Hugh Dickins To: Frank Dekervel cc: Linus Torvalds , Andrea Arcangeli , Marcelo Tosatti , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: need help interpreting 'free' output. In-Reply-To: <200110301132.MAA22471@lambik.cc.kuleuven.ac.be> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Tue, 30 Oct 2001, Frank Dekervel wrote: > > since i saw strange things happening with my free memory numbers, i tried > this: > - i compiled and booted a fresh kernel (no proprietary modules, no patches, > just 2.4.14-pre4) > - i did free. > > bakvis:~# free > total used free shared buffers cached > Mem: 384912 55644 329268 0 3652 29880 > -/+ buffers/cache: 22112 362800 > Swap: 136512 0 136512 > > so i have 22 meg used right ? > > - i started the daily cron jobs (updatedb and htdig and some minor things > like log rotation) > > - i did 'free' again. > > bakvis:~# free > total used free shared buffers cached > Mem: 384912 377060 7852 0 29424 125660 > -/+ buffers/cache: 221976 162936 > Swap: 136512 752 135760 > > so now there is 220 meg used memory right ? > and the memory is definitely used, because as soon as i start a memory hog > the system hits swap ... > > so what am i missing here ? > should i provide more info about my kernel configuration ? vmstat numbers ? I'm fairly sure /proc/slabinfo will show large inode_cache and large dentry_cache: which is natural after updatedb, nothing wrong with that. However, unlike 2.4.13, 2.4.14-pre (you tried pre4, I just tried pre5) seems much too unwilling to shrink_dcache and shrink_icache: your memory hog should shrink them, but it seems not to. Linus? Hugh - 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/