On Mon, 2008-12-22 at 18:36 +0100, Patrick Kirsch wrote: > I'm using: Linux 2.6.27.6 #2 SMP x86_64; Distribution: OpenSUSE 11.0 . > In my opinion the Linux kernel is/should be able to rearrange freed > memory between processes (I think e.g. of the slab). > > But let me show another example: > $foo = 'X' x 100000000; > getc; > undef $foo; > getc; > $foo2 = 'X' x 100000000; > getc; > > gives (again output from 'ps auxwf'): > user 15185 18.0 4.8 211000 197020 pts/5 > user 15185 5.0 2.4 113340 99364 pts/5 > user 15185 4.3 7.2 308660 294684 pts/5 > > As you see some RAM is given back to the OS (~50%, [99364/197020]) . > BUT: I would expect that the Perl virtual machine (memory management) > reuses the allocated RAM from $foo for $foo2. > As you see $foo is not used anymore in the program context, but the > memory management still holds some RAM for it present (I mean > why :-) ? > ). As my education is C, I would not expect this behavior. >
I did not expect this behaviour either. I would think it would give none back or most of it; there would be some overhead. Question : Are you having a problem with memory or is this just to satisfy your curiosity? -- Just my 0.00000002 million dollars worth, Shawn Believe in the Gods but row away from the rocks. -- ancient Hindu proverb -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscr...@perl.org For additional commands, e-mail: beginners-h...@perl.org http://learn.perl.org/
