Re: Linux Kernel 2.2.19 Available Memory Bug

[Doug McNaught]

"John L. Males" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> The bug I am reporting is that when one sets the amount of memory,
> i.e. 128M, 256M; at the time of booting the 2.2.19 kernel the "Total
> Memory" as reported by KDE, "free", etc is short by a important
> amount.  To be more specific I will detail the results of "free"
> below against the "mem" value passed to the kernel.  Please note for
> the purposes of this test I always had 256MB or ram (2x128MB)
> installed in my system.  The BIOS reports total system memory as
> 262144K.

Not really a bug--the "free" report leaves out the memory devoted to
the kernel, which is unpageable and therefore unavailable to user
apps. 

-Doug
-- 
The rain man gave me two cures; he said jump right in,
The first was Texas medicine--the second was just railroad gin,
And like a fool I mixed them, and it strangled up my mind,
Now people just get uglier, and I got no sense of time...  --Dylan
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/

Linux Kernel 2.2.19 Available Memory Bug

[John L. Males]

-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
Hash: SHA1

Hello,

Please note I am not on the Kernel Mailing List so do try to copy me
in with any reply, questions, clarifications, confirmations, et al on
this bug report.

Before I forget I am using SuSE 6.4 with most of the updates from the
base applied, most meaning I generally lag a bit behind at times.  I
am NOT using the SuSE kernel due to bugs introduced into the SuSE
kernel with the SuSE patches/enhancements.  I am using the Linus
2.2.19 Kernel with the OpenWall patches.  System is AMD K6-2 500
based system.  The version of gcc was 2.95.2 to compile the kernel.

The bug I am reporting is that when one sets the amount of memory,
i.e. 128M, 256M; at the time of booting the 2.2.19 kernel the "Total
Memory" as reported by KDE, "free", etc is short by a important
amount.  To be more specific I will detail the results of "free"
below against the "mem" value passed to the kernel.  Please note for
the purposes of this test I always had 256MB or ram (2x128MB)
installed in my system.  The BIOS reports total system memory as
262144K.

"mem=256m"
***

KDE reports 251.09 Total System memory, or 263290880 bytes.

"free -m" indicates "Total Memory" as 251
"free -k" indicates "Total Memory" as 257120
"free -k" indicates "Total Memory" as 263290880

The exact same vaules as noted above are indicated for "mem=262144k",
and "mem=268435546" (256 X 1024 x 1024).

"mem=128m"
***

"free -m" indicates "Total Memory" as 124
"free -k" indicates "Total Memory" as 127344
"free -k" indicates "Total Memory" as 130400256


Regards,

John L. Males
Software I.Q. Consulting
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
20 July 2001 03:47
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

-BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-
Version: PGPfreeware 6.5.8 for non-commercial use 


iQA/AwUBO1fwKPLzhJbmoDZ+EQKQowCfcqeGPdpduaFpTQO1P9XaOlJccHEAn20p
v0V59vV7rrFEvMQCLwzXyO2V
=Ezn3
-END PGP SIGNATURE-

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/

Linux Kernel 2.2.19 Available Memory Bug

[John L. Males]

-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
Hash: SHA1

Hello,

Please note I am not on the Kernel Mailing List so do try to copy me
in with any reply, questions, clarifications, confirmations, et al on
this bug report.

Before I forget I am using SuSE 6.4 with most of the updates from the
base applied, most meaning I generally lag a bit behind at times.  I
am NOT using the SuSE kernel due to bugs introduced into the SuSE
kernel with the SuSE patches/enhancements.  I am using the Linus
2.2.19 Kernel with the OpenWall patches.  System is AMD K6-2 500
based system.  The version of gcc was 2.95.2 to compile the kernel.

The bug I am reporting is that when one sets the amount of memory,
i.e. 128M, 256M; at the time of booting the 2.2.19 kernel the Total
Memory as reported by KDE, free, etc is short by a important
amount.  To be more specific I will detail the results of free
below against the mem value passed to the kernel.  Please note for
the purposes of this test I always had 256MB or ram (2x128MB)
installed in my system.  The BIOS reports total system memory as
262144K.

mem=256m
***

KDE reports 251.09 Total System memory, or 263290880 bytes.

free -m indicates Total Memory as 251
free -k indicates Total Memory as 257120
free -k indicates Total Memory as 263290880

The exact same vaules as noted above are indicated for mem=262144k,
and mem=268435546 (256 X 1024 x 1024).

mem=128m
***

free -m indicates Total Memory as 124
free -k indicates Total Memory as 127344
free -k indicates Total Memory as 130400256


Regards,

John L. Males
Software I.Q. Consulting
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
20 July 2001 03:47
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

-BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-
Version: PGPfreeware 6.5.8 for non-commercial use 
http://www.pgp.com

iQA/AwUBO1fwKPLzhJbmoDZ+EQKQowCfcqeGPdpduaFpTQO1P9XaOlJccHEAn20p
v0V59vV7rrFEvMQCLwzXyO2V
=Ezn3
-END PGP SIGNATURE-

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/

Re: Linux Kernel 2.2.19 Available Memory Bug

[Doug McNaught]

John L. Males [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 The bug I am reporting is that when one sets the amount of memory,
 i.e. 128M, 256M; at the time of booting the 2.2.19 kernel the Total
 Memory as reported by KDE, free, etc is short by a important
 amount.  To be more specific I will detail the results of free
 below against the mem value passed to the kernel.  Please note for
 the purposes of this test I always had 256MB or ram (2x128MB)
 installed in my system.  The BIOS reports total system memory as
 262144K.

Not really a bug--the free report leaves out the memory devoted to
the kernel, which is unpageable and therefore unavailable to user
apps. 

-Doug
-- 
The rain man gave me two cures; he said jump right in,
The first was Texas medicine--the second was just railroad gin,
And like a fool I mixed them, and it strangled up my mind,
Now people just get uglier, and I got no sense of time...  --Dylan
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in
the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/