[Vm-dev] Re: Only ever grows? (was: Re: [squeak-dev] how/where is
memory returned to the OS?)
Chris Muller
asqueaker at gmail.com
Mon Oct 22 15:27:30 UTC 2012
> Eliot is referring to Ian Piumarta's explanation in sqUnixMemory.c here:
>
> /* Note:
> *
> * The code allows memory to be overallocated; i.e., the initial
> * block is reserved via mmap() and then the unused portion
> * munmap()ped from the top end. This is INHERENTLY DANGEROUS since
> * malloc() may randomly map new memory in the block we "reserved"
> * and subsequently unmap()ped. Enabling this causes crashes in
> * Croquet, which makes heavy use of the FFI and thus calls malloc()
> * all over the place.
> *
> * For this reason, overallocateMemory is DISABLED by default.
> *
> * The upshot of all this is that Squeak will claim (and hold on to)
> * ALL of the available virtual memory (or at least 75% of it) when
> * it starts up. If you can't live with that, use the -memory
> * option to allocate a fixed size heap.
> */
>
> See also the man page for sbrk for some related cautions about mixing malloc
> with lower level allocation/deallocation calls.
If the VM starts wth a block initially allocated for the
object-memory, and extended as needed for subsequent allocation
(String new: 4000000), but THEN reduced once not needed -- why would a
*subsequent* malloc call grabbing memory from the part that was
deallocated cause a crash? At first I thought the crash would occur
after a subsequent extension of object-memory into memory that was
malloc'd for another purpose (plugin) but.. that could happen on the
_first_ time it is extended, couldn't it?
IOW:
I start out using 40MB for object memory.
0----------------------40MB
Plugins make some malloc calls, which allocate somewhere just above..
0----------------------40MB-----+5MB(malloc'd)
Now I need more allocation for object memory, so I'm trampling what
the plugin malloc'd?
Sorry, I unfortunately do not know C at all, thanks for helping me
understand the situation.
> Chris, may I ask why you see this as a problem? Is there some practical
> situation in which you are running out of real system memory as a consequence
> of the memory mapping strategy?
I have a Squeak-based server where 99% of requests are small, but once
a big request comes in, that server image jumps from 40MB to 400MB.
The extra memory was only needed for 10 seconds but unfortunately sits
there unused forever-after. So it's almost like a memory-leak where
the only way to recover it is to bounce the server.
What would be worse is if the over-allocated image then affects GC
performance. I'm still trying to figure out whether this is the case
-- it seems like not thank goodness. Do you know for sure the answer
to that? IOW should full GC's be just as fast after the big request
is long-gone (reclaimed) as they were before the big request?
Thanks.
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