#698: GHC's internal memory allocator never releases memory back to the OS
---------------------------------+------------------------------------------
Reporter: guest | Owner: igloo
Type: bug | Status: new
Priority: low | Milestone: 6.12 branch
Component: Runtime System | Version: 6.4.1
Severity: normal | Resolution:
Keywords: | Difficulty: Moderate (1 day)
Testcase: N/A | Os: Linux
Architecture: Unknown/Multiple |
---------------------------------+------------------------------------------
Comment (by simonmar):
Replying to [comment:11 zooko]:
> If the memory usage continues to grow when a substantially similar task
is being performed over and over, then this is a memory leak. That's a
separate issue from returning memory to the OS.
Exactly. If anyone can demonstrate a leak, please create a separate
ticket.
> Personally I don't think returning memory to the OS is worth the effort.
The OS will swap it out anyway when it is unused. (Hint: never look at
the "virtual memory size" on linux. It is a useless and misleading number
-- it doesn't correlate with anything that we actually care about.)
Which is why it hasn't been addressed so far. But there are people who
still care about the absolute virtual size of their processes - perhaps
because they want to avoid the swapping, or maybe just because they don't
like seeing huge processes in `top`.
--
Ticket URL: <http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/698#comment:12>
GHC <http://www.haskell.org/ghc/>
The Glasgow Haskell Compiler
_______________________________________________
Glasgow-haskell-bugs mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/glasgow-haskell-bugs