I ran the following test with a script that logged memory usage in MB every
minute:
Automatic screen blank/lock was disabled, WhiteSur was enabled for GDM and
firefox, seconds visualization was enabled in the clock, text shadow was
enabled as described by Alessandro, and my cursor was hovered over the clock
for the duration of the test (which may or may not be necessary, but it made
the shadow more visible for me).
I observed the following over two 4 hour tests:
With 48.0-1ubuntu1.2 (unpatched): Starting memory utilization at
2025-10-12 11:47:24 was 1297 MB, ending at 2025-10-12 15:29:26 was 1416
MB, with a roughly linear increase.
With 48.0-1ubuntu1.3 (patched): Starting memory utilization at
2025-10-12 16:45:45 was 1299 MB, ending at 2025-10-12 21:18:47 was 1293
MB, utilization remained roughly flat throughout the test.
Patched environment:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ apt-cache policy gnome-shell
gnome-shell:
Installed: 48.0-1ubuntu1.3
Candidate: 48.0-1ubuntu1.3
Version table:
*** 48.0-1ubuntu1.3 100
100 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu plucky-proposed/main amd64
Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
48.0-1ubuntu1.2 500
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu plucky-updates/main amd64
Packages
48.0-1ubuntu1 500
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu plucky/main amd64 Packages
Originally I was going to have this run for longer, but since the trend
is clearly visible already with the clock set to update every second,
I'm happy to call this verified if you are.
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Packages, which is subscribed to gnome-shell in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2121786
Title:
Using a custom theme leaks 10-15 MB per hour
Status in GNOME Shell:
Fix Released
Status in gnome-shell package in Ubuntu:
Fix Released
Status in gnome-shell source package in Noble:
New
Status in gnome-shell source package in Plucky:
Fix Committed
Bug description:
[ Impact ]
gnome-shell has a memory leak, which causes the user's memory to be
gradually consumed after several days of gnome-shell being open with
some themes, even when no actual user-visible tasks are being
performed.
[ Test Plan ]
1. Install the White Sur theme from
https://github.com/vinceliuice/WhiteSur-gtk-theme
2. Enable the theme in Gnome Tweaks.
3. Start tracking memory usage in a format that can be easily graphed.
Include any data and graphing scripts used in your tests in this report.
4. Keep gnome-shell open for 2 days, and keep the machine idle
5. Save graph of memory usage
Perform these steps on both an unpatched system and a patched system
and compare the results.
[ Expected Behavior ]
Memory utilization graph should be relatively flat at start and end of
experiment
[ Actual Behavior ]
Memory utilization graph increases roughly linearly with respect to
time
[ Where problems could occur ]
This patch changes which memory management primitive is used in one
place, which could theoretically result in a user-visible crash if
improperly implemented.
[ Other info ]
This is to track upstream bug:
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/8509
which seems to be a regression starting in gnome-shell 46.0.
To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/gnome-shell/+bug/2121786/+subscriptions
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