[2.4.0-test6-pre9] memory leak?

[Mark Orr]

I compiled 240test6pre9 last night, and put it thru my
usual tests.   I have a bash script that runs iterations of
about three dozen commands that dump a lot of output and quits.
(lots of ps'es, cat'ting big files, some perl scripts, some
programs that show system status...nothing in the background tho,
it doesnt run them in parallel -- it's not really a benchmark or
pure torture test.  It's more of an exerciser.)

I find that after 20 or so iterations of the loop, this kernel (pre9)
really starts to bog down.    Normally, there's some disk
activity on the first pass, but after that not much.

With this kernel it starts out working fine,  but by iteration 25
or so (a minute or two later), it's really dragging...disk is grinding
away.  The commands themselves seem to run a full speed, but the
loading of commands and shell performance is very sluggish.

Even after you exit out of the script, the system remains slow. Just
logging in and out and running simple shell commands takes 10 to 20
seconds (disk buzzing away).

There's no other programs running that could cause that - this
happens even when running runlevel 1, with nothing but bash and init
in the ps list, and no kernel modules loaded.

I didnt see this with pre6,7,or 8.

...not complaining, just reporting.

--
Mark Orr
[e-mail]