** Description changed:
+
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
+ ┃ Proposal: Enable systemd-oomd by Default in Ubuntu Desktop and Server
┃
+
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
- ## Summary
+ Title: Proposal: Enable systemd-oomd by Default in Ubuntu Desktop and
Server
+ Category: Desktop, Server
- I propose enabling `systemd-oomd` by default in Ubuntu Desktop and
- Ubuntu Server to improve system stability and responsiveness during
- memory pressure situations.
+
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
- ## Problem
+ ▓▓ SUMMARY ▓▓
- When Ubuntu systems run low on memory, the kernel's OOM killer often
- responds too late, after the system has already become unresponsive.
+ I propose enabling systemd-oomd by default in Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server
+ to improve system stability and responsiveness during memory pressure
situations.
- **On Desktop:** Users experience prolonged freezes where the desktop
- becomes unusable, sometimes requiring a hard reboot. This is a common
- pain point, especially on systems with 8GB RAM or less running memory-
- intensive workloads like browsers with many tabs, IDEs, or virtual
- machines.
+
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
- **On Server:** Memory exhaustion can lead to service degradation, failed
- health checks, and cascading failures. The kernel OOM killer may
- terminate critical services unpredictably, causing outages.
- Administrators often discover problems only after the damage is done.
+ ▓▓ PROBLEM ▓▓
- ## Solution
+ When Ubuntu systems run low on memory, the kernel's OOM killer often responds
+ too late, after the system has already become unresponsive.
- `systemd-oomd` is a userspace OOM killer that:
+ ◆ On Desktop:
+ Users experience prolonged freezes where the desktop becomes unusable,
+ sometimes requiring a hard reboot. This is a common pain point, especially
+ on systems with 8GB RAM or less running memory-intensive workloads like
+ browsers with many tabs, IDEs, or virtual machines.
- - **Acts proactively** — monitors memory pressure via PSI (Pressure Stall
Information) and intervenes before the system becomes unresponsive
- - **Makes smarter decisions** — uses cgroup information to kill the
appropriate process rather than random selection
- - **Provides better UX** — keeps the desktop responsive during memory pressure
- - **Improves server reliability** — allows services to configure their own
OOM policies via systemd unit options (`ManagedOOMSwap=`,
`ManagedOOMMemoryPressure=`)
- - **Enables graceful degradation** — gives administrators control over which
services are expendable vs. critical
- - **Is mature and battle-tested** — Fedora has shipped it by default since
Fedora 34 (2021)
+ ◆ On Server:
+ Memory exhaustion can lead to service degradation, failed health checks, and
+ cascading failures. The kernel OOM killer may terminate critical services
+ unpredictably, causing outages. Administrators often discover problems only
+ after the damage is done.
- ## Server-Specific Benefits
+
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
- - **Granular control**: Services can opt-in or opt-out via systemd unit
configuration
- - **Predictable behavior**: Administrators can define which services should
be killed first under memory pressure
- - **Better observability**: Actions are logged to the journal with clear
reasoning
- - **Container-aware**: Works well with containerized workloads using cgroups
v2
- - **No external dependencies**: Part of systemd, no additional monitoring
stack required
+ ▓▓ SOLUTION ▓▓
+
+ systemd-oomd is a userspace OOM killer that:
+
+ • Acts proactively — monitors memory pressure via PSI (Pressure Stall
+ Information) and intervenes before the system becomes unresponsive
+
+ • Makes smarter decisions — uses cgroup information to kill the appropriate
+ process rather than random selection
+
+ • Provides better UX — keeps the desktop responsive during memory
+ pressure
+
+ • Improves server reliability — allows services to configure their own OOM
+ policies via systemd unit options (ManagedOOMSwap=,
ManagedOOMMemoryPressure=)
+
+ • Enables graceful degradation — gives administrators control over which
+ services are expendable vs. critical
+
+ • Is mature and battle-tested — Fedora has shipped it by default since
+ Fedora 34 (2021)
+
+
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
+ ▓▓ SERVER-SPECIFIC BENEFITS ▓▓
+
+ • Granular control: Services can opt-in or opt-out via systemd unit
+ configuration
+
+ • Predictable behavior: Administrators can define which services should be
+ killed first under memory pressure
+
+ • Better observability: Actions are logged to the journal with clear
+ reasoning
+
+ • Container-aware: Works well with containerized workloads using
+ cgroups v2
+
+ • No external dependencies: Part of systemd, no additional monitoring stack
+ required
Example unit configuration:
- ```ini
- [Service]
- ManagedOOMMemoryPressure=kill
- ManagedOOMMemoryPressureLimit=80%
- ```
+ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
+ │ [Service] │
+ │ ManagedOOMMemoryPressure=kill │
+ │ ManagedOOMMemoryPressureLimit=80% │
+ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘
- ## Precedent
+
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
- - **Fedora Workstation**: Enabled by default since version 34
- - **Fedora Server**: Enabled by default since version 34
- - **systemd upstream**: Actively maintained as part of the core systemd
project
+ ▓▓ PRECEDENT ▓▓
- ## Technical Details
+ • Fedora Workstation: Enabled by default since version 34
+ • Fedora Server: Enabled by default since version 34
+ • systemd upstream: Actively maintained as part of the core systemd project
- - Package: `systemd-oomd`
- - Memory footprint: ~2MB RSS
- - Dependencies: Already satisfied on standard Ubuntu installations
- - Configuration: Works out of the box with sensible defaults
- - Requires: cgroups v2 (default in Ubuntu since 21.10)
+
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+ ▓▓ TECHNICAL DETAILS ▓▓
- ## Request
+ • Package: systemd-oomd
+ • Memory footprint: ~2MB RSS
+ • Dependencies: Already satisfied on standard Ubuntu installations
+ • Configuration: Works out of the box with sensible defaults
+ • Requires: cgroups v2 (default in Ubuntu since 21.10)
- Consider including `systemd-oomd` in the default Ubuntu Desktop and
- Ubuntu Server installations, enabled by default.
+
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
+ ▓▓ POTENTIAL CONCERNS ▓▓
+
+
┌─────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────┐
+ │ Concern │ Mitigation
│
+
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+ │ Unexpected process termination │ systemd-oomd logs actions to the journal;
│
+ │ │ users/admins can review what was killed
│
+ │ │ and why
│
+
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+ │ Resource overhead │ Minimal (~2MB RAM); negligible compared
│
+ │ │ to the benefit
│
+
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+ │ Conflicts with kernel OOM │ They complement each other; systemd-oomd
│
+ │ │ acts first, kernel OOM remains as
fallback │
+
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+ │ Server workloads need stability │ Services can configure their own
policies; │
+ │ │ critical services can opt-out
│
+
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+ │ Existing monitoring solutions │ systemd-oomd complements rather than
│
+ │ │ replaces external monitoring
│
+
└─────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────┘
+
+
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
+ ▓▓ REQUEST ▓▓
+
+ Consider including systemd-oomd in the default Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu
Server
+ installations, enabled by default.
I'm happy to help with testing or provide additional information.
+
+
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
** Description changed:
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
┃ Proposal: Enable systemd-oomd by Default in Ubuntu Desktop and Server
┃
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
- Title: Proposal: Enable systemd-oomd by Default in Ubuntu Desktop and
Server
- Category: Desktop, Server
+ Title: Proposal: Enable systemd-oomd by Default in Ubuntu Desktop and
Server
+ Category: Desktop, Server
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
▓▓ SUMMARY ▓▓
I propose enabling systemd-oomd by default in Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server
to improve system stability and responsiveness during memory pressure
situations.
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
▓▓ PROBLEM ▓▓
When Ubuntu systems run low on memory, the kernel's OOM killer often responds
too late, after the system has already become unresponsive.
◆ On Desktop:
Users experience prolonged freezes where the desktop becomes unusable,
sometimes requiring a hard reboot. This is a common pain point, especially
on systems with 8GB RAM or less running memory-intensive workloads like
browsers with many tabs, IDEs, or virtual machines.
◆ On Server:
Memory exhaustion can lead to service degradation, failed health checks, and
cascading failures. The kernel OOM killer may terminate critical services
unpredictably, causing outages. Administrators often discover problems only
after the damage is done.
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
▓▓ SOLUTION ▓▓
systemd-oomd is a userspace OOM killer that:
• Acts proactively — monitors memory pressure via PSI (Pressure Stall
Information) and intervenes before the system becomes unresponsive
• Makes smarter decisions — uses cgroup information to kill the appropriate
process rather than random selection
• Provides better UX — keeps the desktop responsive during memory
pressure
• Improves server reliability — allows services to configure their own OOM
policies via systemd unit options (ManagedOOMSwap=,
ManagedOOMMemoryPressure=)
• Enables graceful degradation — gives administrators control over which
services are expendable vs. critical
• Is mature and battle-tested — Fedora has shipped it by default since
Fedora 34 (2021)
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
▓▓ SERVER-SPECIFIC BENEFITS ▓▓
• Granular control: Services can opt-in or opt-out via systemd unit
configuration
• Predictable behavior: Administrators can define which services should be
killed first under memory pressure
• Better observability: Actions are logged to the journal with clear
reasoning
• Container-aware: Works well with containerized workloads using
cgroups v2
• No external dependencies: Part of systemd, no additional monitoring stack
required
Example unit configuration:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ [Service] │
│ ManagedOOMMemoryPressure=kill │
│ ManagedOOMMemoryPressureLimit=80% │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
▓▓ PRECEDENT ▓▓
• Fedora Workstation: Enabled by default since version 34
• Fedora Server: Enabled by default since version 34
• systemd upstream: Actively maintained as part of the core systemd project
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
▓▓ TECHNICAL DETAILS ▓▓
- • Package: systemd-oomd
+ • Package: systemd-oomd
• Memory footprint: ~2MB RSS
- • Dependencies: Already satisfied on standard Ubuntu installations
- • Configuration: Works out of the box with sensible defaults
- • Requires: cgroups v2 (default in Ubuntu since 21.10)
+ • Dependencies: Already satisfied on standard Ubuntu installations
+ • Configuration: Works out of the box with sensible defaults
+ • Requires: cgroups v2 (default in Ubuntu since 21.10)
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
▓▓ POTENTIAL CONCERNS ▓▓
┌─────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Concern │ Mitigation
│
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Unexpected process termination │ systemd-oomd logs actions to the journal;
│
│ │ users/admins can review what was killed
│
│ │ and why
│
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Resource overhead │ Minimal (~2MB RAM); negligible compared
│
│ │ to the benefit
│
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Conflicts with kernel OOM │ They complement each other; systemd-oomd
│
│ │ acts first, kernel OOM remains as
fallback │
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Server workloads need stability │ Services can configure their own
policies; │
│ │ critical services can opt-out
│
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Existing monitoring solutions │ systemd-oomd complements rather than
│
│ │ replaces external monitoring
│
└─────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────┘
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
▓▓ REQUEST ▓▓
Consider including systemd-oomd in the default Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu
Server
installations, enabled by default.
I'm happy to help with testing or provide additional information.
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
** Description changed:
-
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
- ┃ Proposal: Enable systemd-oomd by Default in Ubuntu Desktop and Server
┃
-
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
+ PROPOSAL: ENABLE SYSTEMD-OOMD BY DEFAULT IN UBUNTU DESKTOP AND SERVER
- Title: Proposal: Enable systemd-oomd by Default in Ubuntu Desktop and
Server
- Category: Desktop, Server
+ Title: Proposal: Enable systemd-oomd by Default in Ubuntu Desktop and
Server
+ Category: Desktop, Server
-
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
================================================================================
- ▓▓ SUMMARY ▓▓
+ SUMMARY
I propose enabling systemd-oomd by default in Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server
to improve system stability and responsiveness during memory pressure
situations.
-
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
================================================================================
- ▓▓ PROBLEM ▓▓
+ PROBLEM
When Ubuntu systems run low on memory, the kernel's OOM killer often responds
too late, after the system has already become unresponsive.
- ◆ On Desktop:
- Users experience prolonged freezes where the desktop becomes unusable,
- sometimes requiring a hard reboot. This is a common pain point, especially
- on systems with 8GB RAM or less running memory-intensive workloads like
- browsers with many tabs, IDEs, or virtual machines.
+ On Desktop:
+ Users experience prolonged freezes where the desktop becomes unusable,
+ sometimes requiring a hard reboot. This is a common pain point, especially
+ on systems with 8GB RAM or less running memory-intensive workloads like
+ browsers with many tabs, IDEs, or virtual machines.
- ◆ On Server:
- Memory exhaustion can lead to service degradation, failed health checks, and
- cascading failures. The kernel OOM killer may terminate critical services
- unpredictably, causing outages. Administrators often discover problems only
- after the damage is done.
+ On Server:
+ Memory exhaustion can lead to service degradation, failed health checks, and
+ cascading failures. The kernel OOM killer may terminate critical services
+ unpredictably, causing outages. Administrators often discover problems only
+ after the damage is done.
-
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
================================================================================
- ▓▓ SOLUTION ▓▓
+ SOLUTION
systemd-oomd is a userspace OOM killer that:
- • Acts proactively — monitors memory pressure via PSI (Pressure Stall
- Information) and intervenes before the system becomes unresponsive
+ * Acts proactively - monitors memory pressure via PSI (Pressure Stall
+ Information) and intervenes before the system becomes unresponsive
- • Makes smarter decisions — uses cgroup information to kill the appropriate
- process rather than random selection
+ * Makes smarter decisions - uses cgroup information to kill the appropriate
+ process rather than random selection
- • Provides better UX — keeps the desktop responsive during memory
+ * Provides better UX - keeps the desktop responsive during memory
pressure
- • Improves server reliability — allows services to configure their own OOM
- policies via systemd unit options (ManagedOOMSwap=,
ManagedOOMMemoryPressure=)
+ * Improves server reliability - allows services to configure their own OOM
+ policies via systemd unit options (ManagedOOMSwap=,
ManagedOOMMemoryPressure=)
- • Enables graceful degradation — gives administrators control over which
- services are expendable vs. critical
+ * Enables graceful degradation - gives administrators control over which
+ services are expendable vs. critical
- • Is mature and battle-tested — Fedora has shipped it by default since
- Fedora 34 (2021)
+ * Is mature and battle-tested - Fedora has shipped it by default since
+ Fedora 34 (2021)
-
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
================================================================================
- ▓▓ SERVER-SPECIFIC BENEFITS ▓▓
+ SERVER-SPECIFIC BENEFITS
- • Granular control: Services can opt-in or opt-out via systemd unit
- configuration
+ * Granular control: Services can opt-in or opt-out via systemd unit
+ configuration
- • Predictable behavior: Administrators can define which services should be
- killed first under memory pressure
+ * Predictable behavior: Administrators can define which services should be
+ killed first under memory pressure
- • Better observability: Actions are logged to the journal with clear
+ * Better observability: Actions are logged to the journal with clear
reasoning
- • Container-aware: Works well with containerized workloads using
- cgroups v2
+ * Container-aware: Works well with containerized workloads using cgroups
+ v2
- • No external dependencies: Part of systemd, no additional monitoring stack
- required
+ * No external dependencies: Part of systemd, no additional monitoring stack
+ required
Example unit configuration:
- ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
- │ [Service] │
- │ ManagedOOMMemoryPressure=kill │
- │ ManagedOOMMemoryPressureLimit=80% │
- └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘
-
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+ [Service]
+ ManagedOOMMemoryPressure=kill
+ ManagedOOMMemoryPressureLimit=80%
- ▓▓ PRECEDENT ▓▓
+
================================================================================
- • Fedora Workstation: Enabled by default since version 34
- • Fedora Server: Enabled by default since version 34
- • systemd upstream: Actively maintained as part of the core systemd project
+ PRECEDENT
-
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+ * Fedora Workstation: Enabled by default since version 34
+ * Fedora Server: Enabled by default since version 34
+ * systemd upstream: Actively maintained as part of the core systemd project
- ▓▓ TECHNICAL DETAILS ▓▓
+
================================================================================
- • Package: systemd-oomd
- • Memory footprint: ~2MB RSS
- • Dependencies: Already satisfied on standard Ubuntu installations
- • Configuration: Works out of the box with sensible defaults
- • Requires: cgroups v2 (default in Ubuntu since 21.10)
+ TECHNICAL DETAILS
-
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+ * Package: systemd-oomd
+ * Memory footprint: ~2MB RSS
+ * Dependencies: Already satisfied on standard Ubuntu installations
+ * Configuration: Works out of the box with sensible defaults
+ * Requires: cgroups v2 (default in Ubuntu since 21.10)
- ▓▓ POTENTIAL CONCERNS ▓▓
+
================================================================================
-
┌─────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────┐
- │ Concern │ Mitigation
│
-
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
- │ Unexpected process termination │ systemd-oomd logs actions to the journal;
│
- │ │ users/admins can review what was killed
│
- │ │ and why
│
-
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
- │ Resource overhead │ Minimal (~2MB RAM); negligible compared
│
- │ │ to the benefit
│
-
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
- │ Conflicts with kernel OOM │ They complement each other; systemd-oomd
│
- │ │ acts first, kernel OOM remains as
fallback │
-
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
- │ Server workloads need stability │ Services can configure their own
policies; │
- │ │ critical services can opt-out
│
-
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────┤
- │ Existing monitoring solutions │ systemd-oomd complements rather than
│
- │ │ replaces external monitoring
│
-
└─────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────┘
+ POTENTIAL CONCERNS
-
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+ Concern: Unexpected process termination
+ Mitigation: systemd-oomd logs actions to the journal; users/admins can review
+ what was killed and why
- ▓▓ REQUEST ▓▓
+ Concern: Resource overhead
+ Mitigation: Minimal (~2MB RAM); negligible compared to the benefit
+
+ Concern: Conflicts with kernel OOM
+ Mitigation: They complement each other; systemd-oomd acts first, kernel OOM
+ remains as fallback
+
+ Concern: Server workloads need stability
+ Mitigation: Services can configure their own policies; critical services can
+ opt-out
+
+ Concern: Existing monitoring solutions
+ Mitigation: systemd-oomd complements rather than replaces external monitoring
+
+
================================================================================
+
+ REQUEST
Consider including systemd-oomd in the default Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu
Server
installations, enabled by default.
I'm happy to help with testing or provide additional information.
-
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
================================================================================
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2139289
Title:
Proposal: Enable systemd-oomd by Default in Ubuntu Desktop and Server
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