Re: Using swap though there's plenty of mem free

[Matthias Scheler <tron%zhadum.org.uk@localhost>]

On Fri, May 02, 2008 at 11:51:28AM +0200, Jonathan Schleifer wrote:
> Matthias Scheler <tron%zhadum.org.uk@localhost> wrote:
> 
> > No, it is not. It is not nice if unused processes block all the memory
> > and the I/O performance is bad. The VM system has of course to
> > maintain the correct ballance (and there might be situation where
> > NetBSD's doesn't do that).
> 
> Well, for some reason, it works just fine on Linux which just decreases
> the buffer cache if more memory is needed.

1.) I'm not argueing that behavior you observed on your system was
    optimal.
2.) I'm just objecting to your statement that using swap while memory
    is free is wrong.

The Linux desktop I use at work is actually using swap, too, although
it has 8GB of physical memory and 1.79GB are free at the moment.

        Kind regards

-- 
Matthias Scheler                                  http://zhadum.org.uk/