*BSD News Article 53491


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From: scottl@ix.netcom.com (Scott Long)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: XF86_SVGA eats 9Mb ?
Date: Sat, 28 Oct 1995 03:46:39 GMT
Organization: Netcom
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Robert N Watson <rnw+@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:

>I found a better answer -- I configured the X server to actually die
>after each user, so xdm would load it again from scratch, freeing up
>most of the used virtual  The memory leak involved still bugs me a lot,
>though..

>Any time swap starts getting too low according to swapinfo, I just log
>out of X and back in again.  On the other hand, I think the memory leak
>is fixed in a newer version of XFree86 (it has something to do with the
>linking of the malloc involved?) and so I'll upgrade when 2.1 gets out.
>Speaking of which, will 2.1 install the new version by default, or the
>older version with the malloc problems?

I like the trick of restarting the server after each user.  But you
have a choice of easy solutions to the memory leak:

1) Updrade to XFree86 3.1.2.  You don't even need to get the whole
distribution, just get the new server.  It works.  I've tried it.  And
yes, FreeBSD 2.1 uses this new version.
2)  Grab the 3.1.1 link-kit and re-link it.  Make sure you edit
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/config/FreeBSD.cf so that -gnumalloc is
un-commented.  Then follow the link kit instructions.  I like this the
best because I can strip out un-used video drivers and  X extensions.

The memory footprint for the server is down to about 3.5 megs now and
doesn't keep growing.  Makes my 8 meg laptop much happier!

My $.25

Scott