Easy. All applications are themselves swap space - the binary is
merely memory-mapped onto the executable file. When the system gets
low on memory, the only thing it can do is purge some binary pages,
and then repeatedly page them back in from the original executable
file.
If you added a little bit of swap, it would be able to page out some
idle data rather than binaries, and would probably avoid thrashing.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------
from: Jonathan "Chromatix" Morton
mail: chromi@cyberspace.org (not for attachments)
website: http://www.chromatix.uklinux.net/vnc/
geekcode: GCS$/E dpu(!) s:- a20 C+++ UL++ P L+++ E W+ N- o? K? w--- O-- M++$
V? PS PE- Y+ PGP++ t- 5- X- R !tv b++ DI+++ D G e+ h+ r++ y+(*)
tagline: The key to knowledge is not to rely on people to teach you it.
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