X Server VmSize and VmRss: Excessive ?????

[Paul Collins]

Howard Thomson <howard.thomson at dial.pipex.com> writes:

> I have a 2Gb dual-processor X86-64 system, and am frustrated that when my X 
> server size reaches 1.2+ Gb, with VmRss (Resident Set Size) if 1+ Gb, my 
> system slows to a crawl.
>
> This is primarily in relation to web browsing, where Firefox has (currently) 
> reached 1.12Gb VmSize and 236Mb VmRss, with combined X + Firefox VmSize of 
> 2.4 Gb, which seems massively excessive!
>
> Is this likely to be a memory leak problem in X, Firefox or both, or is it a 
> configuration problem or limitation where it should be possible to configure 
> a limit on RAM cacheing ?
>
> I admit to  being an avid news reader, opening and closing tabs for news items 
> almost continuously, but for my system to get to a point where minutes (!) 
> pass by simply to see the cursor move is RIDICULOUS !!!!!!!!

Firefox used to have a bug where it would leak (or at least fail to
dispose of) the memory for closed tabs.  IIRC the workaround was to
open a new window and close the window that had held all of the
now-closed tabs.

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