Xorg massive memory usage

[Marcus Rademacher]

I'm having an issue with Xorg using a ton of memory. To start off, here are
the machine specs:

Dell Precision M4400
4 GB of RAM
Dedicated video card with onboard video RAM
Running Ubuntu 9.10 x64
Not using Compiz or any special display effects.

Results of "X -version":
X.Org X Server 1.6.4
Release Date: 2009-9-27
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.24-23-server x86_64 Ubuntu
Current Operating System: Linux marcus-laptop 2.6.31-17-generic #54-Ubuntu
SMP Thu Dec 10 17:01:44 UTC 2009 x86_64
Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-17-generic
root=UUID=dc474f24-3833-4896-bd3e-0a209d66a767 ro vga=799 quiet splash
Build Date: 14 November 2009  05:48:57PM
xorg-server 2:1.6.4-2ubuntu4.1 (buildd@)
    Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
    to make sure that you have the latest version.

I'm using this machine for thesis research, and that involves running some
niche software and some of my own code. The crux is that many folders and
files are created and deleted over the course of 30 seconds. These runs take
several days to complete.

The problem is that if I start out with a fresh log in Xorg starts at about
30 MiB in use. After letting my program run overnight, Xorg is typically
using several GiB of memory, pushing the amount in use up about 95%.
Normally I can do regular web browsing while my program runs, but when the
memory usage is that high the whole machine is unusable, and my research
program slows a lot.

So what I'm actually running is a bash script that calls a commercial
optimization code
(HEEDS<http://www.redcedartech.com/products/heeds_professional>)
several times in sequence, which in turn calls Matlab and some very small C
programs of mine many times as well. So no instance of my code or HEEDS is
running the entire length of time, since they end and new instances begin
many times. That fact, and that I've run this same thing on other Linux
platforms and Windows without issue makes me think that this is unrelated to
the code I'm running. Perhaps it's exacerbated by the many folders and files
that are created over the course of the program's run.

So what do I have to do prevent Xorg from stealing all of my memory?

Also posted to Ubuntu Forums:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1397093
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