Mailing-List: contact cygwin-help AT cygwin DOT com; run by ezmlm List-Subscribe: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: , Sender: cygwin-owner AT cygwin DOT com Mail-Followup-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com Delivered-To: mailing list cygwin AT cygwin DOT com Sensitivity: Subject: Re: Win2k and cygwin memory leak To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com From: Brian DOT Kelly AT empireblue DOT com Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 13:25:56 -0400 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 X-WSS-ID: 132D023B480616-01-03 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Assuming you're right - and I have no reason to think otherwise, using cygwin in a memory intensive fashion does indeed fragment the memory. *cygwin's problem?* OK - I'm being persuaded it isn't - as such. After playing with it some over the last few hours, I found that the problem is MUCH worse on NT4 than W2K. (NT4 was my only platform 11 months ago when the problem was first discoverd.) Basically NT4 degrades very quickly and I have yet to see it recover without RAMpage. W2K degrades also, but if left alone long enough, appears to recover on its own "eventually". The *eventually* is the key thing since if the memory fragments "fast enough" - I can cripple the box before the OS recovers on its own. This is where RAMpage is useful on W2K. Perhaps there is a registry or ini setting that one could tweak to force OS defragmenting earlier. It's all pretty new to me. The question is, is this fragmenting and defragging an unavoidable and inevitable side effect, or can it be managed from within an application? Can some of this be controlled with the cygwin daemon of the future? Anyhow, I too am weary of this thread and since I'm not a c/c++ programmer, I've exhausted most of the resources I can use on this question. Nevertheless, if others find RAMpage helps them to use cygwin more robustly than without, especially on older OS's like NT4 and win98, then a mention in the FAQ I think would be quite helpful. But I would think more feedback and experience from a wider cross section of folks would be needed first. Brian Kelly "Christopher Faylor" @cygwin.com on 08/08/2003 11:15:36 AM Please respond to cygwin AT cygwin DOT com Sent by: cygwin-owner AT cygwin DOT com To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com cc: (bcc: Brian Kelly/WTC1/Empire) Subject: Re: Win2k and cygwin memory leak On Fri, Aug 08, 2003 at 09:32:16AM -0400, Brian DOT Kelly AT empireblue DOT com wrote: >>Looking at RAMpage's code and reading the description, I see nothing >>that indicates it would solve this supposed "memory leak" problem. All >>that it does is allocate a huge chunk of memory and free it, forcing >>any fragmented memory out onto disk. I really don't see how that would >>cause any improvement in anything related to a memory leak. > >I do not know much, but I do know this. With RAMpage running 4 times a >day, my server stays up. Without it, it crashes. The only thing >running on the box other than the naked OS and backup software and >Anti-virus, is cygwin and cygwin installed apps. I agree with you to >the extent that it certainly doesn't *solve* the *supposed* memory leak >problem. But it keeps my server up and I'm sure it will help others >too. If RAMpage is truly solving your problem then you should stop referring to the problem as a memory leak. AFAICT, although the web site is very misleading, RAMpage does not do anything to fix "memory leaks". It just defragments memory. It even says that it is not likely to fix problems on newer OSes like Win2K. cgf -- Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple Problem reports: http://cygwin.com/problems.html Documentation: http://cygwin.com/docs.html FAQ: http://cygwin.com/faq/ "WellChoice, Inc." made the following annotations on 08/08/2003 01:28:21 PM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Attention! This electronic message contains information that may be legally confidential and/or privileged. The information is intended solely for the individual or entity named above and access by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the contents of this information is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this electronic transmission in error, please reply immediately to the sender that you have received the message in error, and delete it. Release/Disclosure Statement -- Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple Problem reports: http://cygwin.com/problems.html Documentation: http://cygwin.com/docs.html FAQ: http://cygwin.com/faq/