On Wed, Aug 4, 2021 at 12:22 AM Marcel Taeumel <marcel.taeumel at hpi.de>
wrote:

> Hi all --
>
> If we really want to test an out-of-memory event, we might want to
> implement a configurable boundary in the VM to accommodate today's
> operating systems as Tobias explained.
>
> In the past, this test relied on an implementation detail in the OS that
> is no longer valid. Such tests are never a good idea. Instead, let's
> replace this test with something like:
>
> testOutOfMemorySignalExtreme
>    self setMemoryLimit: 2 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024.
>    self should: [self useUpAllMemory] raise: OutOfMemory.
>

+1000

>
> At the moment, such a memory limit is currently not configurable in recent
> VMs. If we had such a limit, one could set it to match a machine's physical
> memory -- or 80% of it -- to not stress SSDs too much because of paging.
>

Are you sure?  I think it is VM parameter 67, e.g.

    #67 0 the maximum allowed size of old space (if zero there is no limit)

Smalltalk vmParameterAt: 67 put: 8 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024

    #67 8,589,934,592 the maximum allowed size of old space (if zero there
is no limit)


> Of course, such a limit could be "undefined" to realize the current
> situation. And for backwards compatibility.
>

It is.  But default the value is zero, which means "unlimited".


> Best,
> Marcel
>
> Am 03.08.2021 22:19:14 schrieb Tobias Pape <das.linux at gmx.de>:
> Hi
>
>
> > On 3. Aug 2021, at 20:05, Eliot Miranda wrote:
> >
> > Hi All,
> >
> > something needs to be done about this test. Whenever I run it on macos
> it never runs out of memory before the system starts complaining. I've just
> been presented with a dialog telling me that the system is out of
> application memory and something needs to quit, while the Squeak process is
> 236 Gb big. A test that locks up the system isn't very useful.
>
> macOS uses the dynamic_pager(8) to handle swap.
> It tries very very hard to satisfy your ram demands.
> just out of curiosity, do a
>
> ls -hal /var/vm
>
> and see all the swap files it happily creates when you ask for more ram
> than you have.
>
> The test really only makes sense if the OS does not pretend to have an
> infinite amount of random access bits.
> Thus probably only sensible on linux these days (it presume even iOS has
> the dynamic pager…)
>
> (Note: it seems dynamic_pager got stripped down over releases, and does
> not do much anymore;
> functionality still exists but is less configurable and problably
> in-kernel only.
> Main point stands tho)
>
> Best regards
> -Tobias
>
>
>
> > _,,,^..^,,,_
> > best, Eliot
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
_,,,^..^,,,_
best, Eliot
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