Re: Break 2.4 VM in five easy steps

[Xavier Bestel]

On 05 Jun 2001 23:19:08 -0400, Derek Glidden wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 06, 2001 at 12:16:30PM +1000, Andrew Morton wrote:
> > "Jeffrey W. Baker" wrote:
> > > 
> > > Because the 2.4 VM is so broken, and
> > > because my machines are frequently deeply swapped,
> > 
> > The swapoff algorithms in 2.2 and 2.4 are basically identical.
> > The problem *appears* worse in 2.4 because it uses lots
> > more swap.
> 
> I disagree with the terminology you're using.  It *is* worse in 2.4,
> period.  If it only *appears* worse, then if I encounter a situation
> where a 2.2 box has utilized as much swap as a 2.4 box, I should see the
> same results.  Yet this happens not to be the case. 

Did you try to put twice as much swap as you have RAM ? (e.g. add a 512M
swapfile to your box)
This is what Linus recommended for 2.4 (swap = 2 * RAM), saying that
anything less won't do any good: 2.4 overallocates swap even if it
doesn't use it all. So in your case you just have enough swap to map
your RAM, and nothing to really swap your apps.

Xav