It is my understanding that since in Linux the programs are relatively
isolated, and since we have such a great memory model, the only way that we
might see gradual OS-decay/rust is if the kernel starts to leak memory (which
can be a bitch to debug :-)
If this is happening, it is true that people with lots of memory may not
notice, especially if it is a gradual leak. But I can say with confidence
that I don't think we have that problem.... I have run Linux 2.1.95 on a
system with 16Mb of memory for over 10 days with fairly heavy load without
problems... and I have been keeping an eye on the memory data... no unusual
drops.
Hope this helps, I've said enough :-)
Cheers,
Raj - nopzor -
Bill Metzenthen wrote:
> Some time recently (I can't remember exactly when :), I think it was
> P. J. Plauger who observed that modern operating systems rust. I
> other words after using the things for months it is often necessary to
> re-install the things to get the performance back to a satisfactory
> level. This seems to be a complaint against MicroSoft operating
> systems and their ilk.
>
> Somewhere in the 2.1.xx series (maybe 2.1.4x, but I'm not sure) of
> Linux kernels I noticed that rapid rusting was setting in. After
> using the system for a time, which could be less than an hour, the
> performance would become very sluggish due to swapping and only
> rebooting seems to restore system performance.
>
> Of course there were a few disastrous kernels around 2.1.90, but we'll
> forget about those...
>
> I have a feeling that the rusting problem has become worse as the
> kernel versions have progressed but it's only recently that I've
> started trying to get some measure of the effect so I can't be sure.
>
> I've recently tried a few things to see if the cause of the rusting
> might become apparent but before I really roll my sleeves up it seems
> like a good idea to ask here. It's likely that someone already knows
> the answer and/or can point out something silly I am doing...
>
> Don't laugh, but my system is currently and 80486 with 8 Mbyte of RAM.
> My observation of most messages which mention configuration is that
> most people have much more RAM than this and might not be seeing the
> problem.
>
> To rule out hardware problems, I compiled and installed 2.0.33 and
> observe that the rusting is either much slower or doesn't exist with
> that kernel.
>
> Cheers,
> Bill
>
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