GDM, GNOME and RAM issue

GDM, GNOME and RAM issue

[sirgazil]

Hello,

I've been experiencing the following behavior for months, but didn't have the time to report anything.

When I boot, a fresh GNOME session uses around 1.3 GiB (I don't know if this is normal).

After several hours of work, the desktop starts feeling somewhat slow (e.g. when launching apps, switching work spaces). When this happens, RAM usage is around 3 GiB (of 4 GiB in total). If I continue working, RAM usage continues to go up little by little, and I have to reboot at some point, because memory is not released and things become slower.

When RAM usage is very high, closing all applications reduces usage to 2 GiB approx. (which I think is too high). If I log out and then log back in, those 2 GiB are still in use (which I think is odd).

Here are some screenshots of resource usage reported by the "top" program. GDM looks suspicious:

• RAM usage after several hours of work with the applications I use every day still running:

    https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-session-after-hours-of-work-all-apps-2020-02-23.png

• RAM usage after closing all applications:

    https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-session-after-hours-of-work-all-apps-closed-2020-02-23.png

• RAM usage after logging out and then login back in:

    https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-session-after-hours-of-work-re-log-in-2020-02-23.png


I decided to try sway to see if I had the same problem there, but I think it is something related to GDM+GNOME. In sway, a fresh session uses around 700 MiB; after hours of work (using the same applications I use every day), RAM usage stays between 2 and 2.5 GiB; and when I exit all applications, RAM seems to be released ok (descends to 900 MiB approx.).

So, I don't know...


---
https://sirgazil.bitbucket.io/

Re: GDM, GNOME and RAM issue

[sirgazil]

 ---- On Mon, 24 Feb 2020 12:19:37 -0500 sirgazil <sirgazil@zoho.com> wrote ----
 > Hello,
 > 
 > I've been experiencing the following behavior for months, but didn't have the time to report anything.
 > 
 > When I boot, a fresh GNOME session uses around 1.3 GiB (I don't know if this is normal).
 > 
 > After several hours of work, the desktop starts feeling somewhat slow (e.g. when launching apps, switching work spaces). When this happens, RAM usage is around 3 GiB (of 4 GiB in total). If I continue working, RAM usage continues to go up little by little, and I have to reboot at some point, because memory is not released and things become slower.

Actually, I left the computer on overnight and this morning it was so slow that the cursor barely moved. So it seems it doesn't matter whether I do any interaction with the running applications, RAM usage grows anyways.

Resources in GNOME System Control:
https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-ram-eaten-resources-2020-02-25.png

Processes in GNOME System Control:
https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-ram-eaten-processes-2020-02-25.png

Processes in top:
https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-ram-eaten-top-2020-02-25.png

Again, the ".gnome-shell-real" run by the gdm user seems to be the problem.

Re: GDM, GNOME and RAM issue

[sirgazil]

 ---- On Mon, 24 Feb 2020 12:19:37 -0500 sirgazil <sirgazil@zoho.com> wrote ----
 > Hello,
 > 
 > I've been experiencing the following behavior for months, but didn't have the time to report anything.
 > 
 > When I boot, a fresh GNOME session uses around 1.3 GiB (I don't know if this is normal).
 > 
 > After several hours of work, the desktop starts feeling somewhat slow (e.g. when launching apps, switching work spaces). When this happens, RAM usage is around 3 GiB (of 4 GiB in total). If I continue working, RAM usage continues to go up little by little, and I have to reboot at some point, because memory is not released and things become slower.
 > 
 > When RAM usage is very high, closing all applications reduces usage to 2 GiB approx. (which I think is too high). If I log out and then log back in, those 2 GiB are still in use (which I think is odd).
 > 
 > Here are some screenshots of resource usage reported by the "top" program. GDM looks suspicious:
 > 
 > • RAM usage after several hours of work with the applications I use every day still running:
 > 
 >     https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-session-after-hours-of-work-all-apps-2020-02-23.png
 > 
 > • RAM usage after closing all applications:
 > 
 >     https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-session-after-hours-of-work-all-apps-closed-2020-02-23.png
 > 
 > • RAM usage after logging out and then login back in:
 > 
 >     https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-session-after-hours-of-work-re-log-in-2020-02-23.png
 > 
 > 
 > I decided to try sway to see if I had the same problem there, but I think it is something related to GDM+GNOME. In sway, a fresh session uses around 700 MiB; after hours of work (using the same applications I use every day), RAM usage stays between 2 and 2.5 GiB; and when I exit all applications, RAM seems to be released ok (descends to 900 MiB approx.).
 > 

I just reported this problem to the issue tracker: http://issues.guix.gnu.org/issue/40116

Re: GDM, GNOME and RAM issue

[Catonano]

Il giorno mer 18 mar 2020 alle ore 15:43 sirgazil <sirgazil@zoho.com> ha
scritto:

>  ---- On Mon, 24 Feb 2020 12:19:37 -0500 sirgazil <sirgazil@zoho.com>
> wrote ----
>  > Hello,
>  >
>  > I've been experiencing the following behavior for months, but didn't
> have the time to report anything.
>  >
>  > When I boot, a fresh GNOME session uses around 1.3 GiB (I don't know if
> this is normal).
>  >
>  > After several hours of work, the desktop starts feeling somewhat slow
> (e.g. when launching apps, switching work spaces). When this happens, RAM
> usage is around 3 GiB (of 4 GiB in total). If I continue working, RAM usage
> continues to go up little by little, and I have to reboot at some point,
> because memory is not released and things become slower.
>  >
>  > When RAM usage is very high, closing all applications reduces usage to
> 2 GiB approx. (which I think is too high). If I log out and then log back
> in, those 2 GiB are still in use (which I think is odd).
>  >
>  > Here are some screenshots of resource usage reported by the "top"
> program. GDM looks suspicious:
>  >
>  > • RAM usage after several hours of work with the applications I use
> every day still running:
>  >
>  >
> https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-session-after-hours-of-work-all-apps-2020-02-23.png
>  >
>  > • RAM usage after closing all applications:
>  >
>  >
> https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-session-after-hours-of-work-all-apps-closed-2020-02-23.png
>  >
>  > • RAM usage after logging out and then login back in:
>  >
>  >
> https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-session-after-hours-of-work-re-log-in-2020-02-23.png
>  >
>  >
>  > I decided to try sway to see if I had the same problem there, but I
> think it is something related to GDM+GNOME. In sway, a fresh session uses
> around 700 MiB; after hours of work (using the same applications I use
> every day), RAM usage stays between 2 and 2.5 GiB; and when I exit all
> applications, RAM seems to be released ok (descends to 900 MiB approx.).
>  >
>
> I just reported this problem to the issue tracker:
> http://issues.guix.gnu.org/issue/40116
>
>

I remember that the Gnome people fixed a memory leak some months ago

It had to do with a glitch in the layout of pointers to instances in the
Gnome object system that made it difficult for the garbage collector to
reach exhausted references

Now I don't remember when this was and what version of Gnome was involved,
I'm being a bit vague, I know

But if the version of Gnome in Guix is not recent, there's a good chance
that you're running into that bug.

Re: GDM, GNOME and RAM issue

[sirgazil]

Hi, Catonano :)


 ---- On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 12:10:33 -0500 Catonano <catonano@gmail.com> wrote ----

 > I remember that the Gnome people fixed a memory leak some months ago 
 > It had to do with a glitch in the layout of pointers to instances in the Gnome object system that made it difficult for the garbage collector to reach exhausted references
 > 
 > Now I don't remember when this was and what version of Gnome was involved, I'm being a bit vague, I know
 > 
 > But if the version of Gnome in Guix is not recent, there's a good chance that you're running into that bug.
 > 

There is at least two leak reports upstream against more recent versions of GNOME Shell (Guix has 3.32.2) that look similar to the one I reported:

https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&state=opened&search=leak

I'm trying to reproduce the issue in a virtual machine.