clear the kill-ring and free memory?

clear the kill-ring and free memory?

[unfrostedpoptart]

Hi.

I've been having a lot of emacs (24.3.1 linux) hangs/crashes/cpu-hogging related to too much stuff in the kill-ring.  I'm looking for a nice, safe way to empty it.  I've searched around a lot and haven't seen a good solution.  There's 

(setq kill-ring nil) 
(garbage-collect)

but I don't know if that would leave some clipboard functions/variables in an illegal state.

Thanks!

 David

RE: clear the kill-ring and free memory?

[Drew Adams]

> (setq kill-ring nil)
> (garbage-collect)
> 
> but I don't know if that would leave some clipboard functions/variables in
> an illegal state.

Nope. Go for it. No problem.

Re: clear the kill-ring and free memory?

[Michael Heerdegen]

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> > (setq kill-ring nil)
> > (garbage-collect)
> > 
> > but I don't know if that would leave some clipboard
> > functions/variables in
> > an illegal state.
>
> Nope. Go for it. No problem.

Sure?  What about `kill-ring-yank-pointer' and `yank-menu'?

Michael.

RE: clear the kill-ring and free memory?

[Drew Adams]

> > > (setq kill-ring nil)
> > > (garbage-collect)
> > >
> > > but I don't know if that would leave some clipboard
> > > functions/variables in an illegal state.
> >
> > Nope. Go for it. No problem.
> 
> Sure?  What about `kill-ring-yank-pointer' and `yank-menu'?

What about them?  I don't think that either is a problem (e.g.,
"illegal state").  But I'll be glad to be shown wrong.

`Edit > Paste from Kill Menu' won't be emptied too, but there
is no problem with that, AFAIK.

If you are worried, do this instead:

(setq kill-ring-max 1)
Copy some text.
(setq kill-ring-max 60) ; or whatever

Re: clear the kill-ring and free memory?

[Michael Heerdegen]

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> > Sure?  What about `kill-ring-yank-pointer' and `yank-menu'?
> 
> What about them?  I don't think that either is a problem (e.g.,
> "illegal state").  But I'll be glad to be shown wrong.

`kill-ring-yank-pointer': dunno too, but you might get surprised, I
would set it nil, too.

`yank-menu': Since unfrostedpoptart wants to free memory, I assume that
he has some really huge kills in his kill ring and wants to get rid of
these objects in memory.  These kills are stored in `yank-menu' too, so
you'll have to reset this variable to garbage-collect those kills.


Michael.

RE: clear the kill-ring and free memory?

[Drew Adams]

> > > Sure?  What about `kill-ring-yank-pointer' and `yank-menu'?
> >
> > What about them?  I don't think that either is a problem (e.g.,
> > "illegal state").  But I'll be glad to be shown wrong.
> 
> `kill-ring-yank-pointer': dunno too, but you might get surprised, I
> would set it nil, too.

I really don't think so.  Did you try it?

> `yank-menu': Since unfrostedpoptart wants to free memory, I assume that
> he has some really huge kills in his kill ring and wants to get rid of
> these objects in memory.  These kills are stored in `yank-menu' too, so
> you'll have to reset this variable to garbage-collect those kills.

Agreed.

I was answering only the question about problems - an "illegal state"
from emptying `kill-ring'.  But you are right that emptying it alone
does not solve the memory problem.

`kill-ring-max' takes care of both sets of pastables.

Re: clear the kill-ring and free memory?

[Michael Heerdegen]

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> > `kill-ring-yank-pointer': dunno too, but you might get surprised, I
> > would set it nil, too.
>
> I really don't think so.  Did you try it?

Indeed, I found no problem.

> > `yank-menu': Since unfrostedpoptart wants to free memory, I assume that
> > he has some really huge kills in his kill ring and wants to get rid of
> > these objects in memory.  These kills are stored in `yank-menu' too, so
> > you'll have to reset this variable to garbage-collect those kills.
>
> Agreed.
>
> I was answering only the question about problems - an "illegal state"
> from emptying `kill-ring'.  But you are right that emptying it alone
> does not solve the memory problem.
>
> `kill-ring-max' takes care of both sets of pastables.

There is also `buffers-menu-max-size', at least here in 24.3.


Regards,

Michael.

RE: clear the kill-ring and free memory?

[Drew Adams]

> > `kill-ring-max' takes care of both sets of pastables.
> 
> There is also `buffers-menu-max-size', at least here in 24.3.

I don't understand.  Did you mean that it somehow affects the length
of `kill-ring' or `yank-menu'?  (I don't see where it does that.)

Or did you just mean that it is another place where one can limit the
memory used?  Yes, that could be helpful if the value is nil (no
limit).  But it is pretty small by default - just 10 buffer names.

Re: clear the kill-ring and free memory?

[Michael Heerdegen]

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> > > `kill-ring-max' takes care of both sets of pastables.
> > 
> > There is also `buffers-menu-max-size', at least here in 24.3.
>
> I don't understand.  Did you mean that it somehow affects the length
> of `kill-ring' or `yank-menu'?  (I don't see where it does that.)

Oops, I meant `yank-menu-length'.

Michael.

RE: clear the kill-ring and free memory?

[Drew Adams]

> Oops, I meant `yank-menu-length'.

FWIW, in spite of the name, that var is not about the length of the menu
(`yank-menu'), which is controlled by `kill-ring-max'.

`yank-menu-length' controls the length of each menu *item* (each kill
shown in the menu - the max number of chars).  If a kill is longer than
that length then the menu item shows it with elision, e.g. "Foo Ba...".

So yes, if you have large kills, that var can save memory too.  Just
wanted to point out that its name is somewhat misleading - it does
not control the length of the yank menu.

Re: clear the kill-ring and free memory?

[Michael Heerdegen]

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> > Oops, I meant `yank-menu-length'.
>
> FWIW, in spite of the name, that var is not about the length of the menu
> (`yank-menu'), which is controlled by `kill-ring-max'.
>
> `yank-menu-length' controls the length of each menu *item* (each kill
> shown in the menu - the max number of chars).  If a kill is longer than
> that length then the menu item shows it with elision, e.g. "Foo Ba...".

Interesting.  Yes, the name is misleading - thanks for clarifying.

Michael.

Re: clear the kill-ring and free memory?

[unfrostedpoptart]

On Thursday, September 12, 2013 3:08:10 PM UTC-7, Drew Adams wrote:
> > > > Sure?  What about `kill-ring-yank-pointer' and `yank-menu'?
> 
> > >
> 
> > > What about them?  I don't think that either is a problem (e.g.,
> 
> > > "illegal state").  But I'll be glad to be shown wrong.
> 
> > 
> 
> > `kill-ring-yank-pointer': dunno too, but you might get surprised, I
> 
> > would set it nil, too.
> 
> 
> 
> I really don't think so.  Did you try it?
> 
> 
> 
> > `yank-menu': Since unfrostedpoptart wants to free memory, I assume that
> 
> > he has some really huge kills in his kill ring and wants to get rid of
> 
> > these objects in memory.  These kills are stored in `yank-menu' too, so
> 
> > you'll have to reset this variable to garbage-collect those kills.
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed.
> 
> 
> 
> I was answering only the question about problems - an "illegal state"
> 
> from emptying `kill-ring'.  But you are right that emptying it alone
> 
> does not solve the memory problem.
> 
> 
> 
> `kill-ring-max' takes care of both sets of pastables.

Thanks for the help!

Re: clear the kill-ring and free memory?

[Stefan Monnier]

> I've been having a lot of emacs (24.3.1 linux) hangs/crashes/cpu-hogging
> related to too much stuff in the kill-ring.

Sounds highly unlikely.  What makes you think the problem is in "too
much stuff in the kill-ring" rather than elsewhere?


        Stefan