I deal with a lot of very large files on a regular basis. I've noticed that
when I delve into these directories using in mintty and issue the command ls
-l (or ls -color=auto), a very large junk of memory is consumed. The
memory leak seems to be proportionate to the number and size of files within
the containing folder.
To reproduce:
generate or use a folder containing 50 (or more) 2G+ files.
// In this demonstration, I a ran the command on a directory containing 143
files ranging in size from 2GB to 5GB.
$> free
total used free shared buff/cache
available
Mem: 50276004 16465148 33810856 0 0
33810856
Swap: 12058624 186468 11872156
$> ls -l -color=auto
. (contents displayed after some delay)
$> free
total used free shared buff/cache
available
Mem: 50276004 19844660 30431344 0 0
30431344
Swap: 12058624 186460 11872164
// After 10 consecutive executions of the 'ls -al --color=auto' command in
this directory, ls has consumed 86% of my system's real memory.
$> free
total used free shared buff/cache
available
Mem: 50276004 43587560 6688444 0 0
6688444
Swap: 12058624 301068 11757556
// If I continue (usually unknowingly) my system will completely be depleted
of resources to the point my mouse will barely respond to movement.
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