linux-kernel - Re: tracking memory usage/leak in "inactive" field in /proc/meminfo?

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Date:	Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:09:18 +0900 (JST)
From:	KOSAKI Motohiro <kosaki.motohiro@...fujitsu.com>
To:	balbir@...ux.vnet.ibm.com
Cc:	kosaki.motohiro@...fujitsu.com,
	Chris Friesen <cfriesen@...tel.com>,
	Rik van Riel <riel@...hat.com>,
	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	linux-mm@...ck.org
Subject: Re: tracking memory usage/leak in "inactive" field in /proc/meminfo?

> * KOSAKI Motohiro <kosaki.motohiro@...fujitsu.com> [2010-02-10 09:32:07]:
> 
> > > Hi,
> > > 
> > > I'm hoping you can help me out.  I'm on a 2.6.27 x86 system and I'm
> > > seeing the "inactive" field in /proc/meminfo slowly growing over time to
> > > the point where eventually the oom-killer kicks in and starts killing
> > > things.  The growth is not evident in any other field in /proc/meminfo.
> > > 
> > > I'm trying to figure out where the memory is going, and what it's being
> > > used for.
> > > 
> > > As I've found, the fields in /proc/meminfo don't add up...in particular,
> > > active+inactive is quite a bit larger than
> > > buffers+cached+dirty+anonpages+mapped+pagetables+vmallocused.  Initially
> > > the difference is about 156MB, but after about 13 hrs the difference is
> > > 240MB.
> > > 
> > > How can I track down where this is going?  Can you suggest any
> > > instrumentation that I can add?
> > > 
> > > I'm reasonably capable, but I'm getting seriously confused trying to
> > > sort out the memory subsystem.  Some pointers would be appreciated.
> > 
> > can you please post your /proc/meminfo?
> 
> Do you have swap enabled? Can you help with the OOM killed dmesg log?
> Does the situation get better after OOM killing. /proc/meminfo as
> Kosaki suggested would be important as well. 

Indeed.

Chris, 2.6.27 is a bit old. plese test it on latest kernel. and please don't use
any proprietary drivers.



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