From owner-freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.ORG Tue May 18 17:40:05 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-bugs@hub.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DF2B8106567E for ; Tue, 18 May 2010 17:40:05 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from gnats@FreeBSD.org) Received: from freefall.freebsd.org (unknown [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::28]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9D93F8FC1E for ; Tue, 18 May 2010 17:40:05 +0000 (UTC) Received: from freefall.freebsd.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id o4IHe5Mo018430 for ; Tue, 18 May 2010 17:40:05 GMT (envelope-from gnats@freefall.freebsd.org) Received: (from gnats@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.14.4/8.14.4/Submit) id o4IHe5qL018429; Tue, 18 May 2010 17:40:05 GMT (envelope-from gnats) Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 17:40:05 GMT Message-Id: <201005181740.o4IHe5qL018429@freefall.freebsd.org> To: freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.org From: Peter Schuller Cc: Subject: Re: kern/120749: [request] Suggest upping the default kern.ps_arg_cache_limit X-BeenThere: freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Peter Schuller List-Id: Bug reports List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 17:40:06 -0000 The following reply was made to PR kern/120749; it has been noted by GNATS. From: Peter Schuller To: Antony Mawer , jhb@freebsd.org Cc: freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org, bug-followup@freebsd.org Subject: Re: kern/120749: [request] Suggest upping the default kern.ps_arg_cache_limit Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 19:31:11 +0200 > There was some recent comments that suggested this was beneficial with > various Tomcat/Java applications, which otherwise experienced their > command lines being truncated in the rc.d script for tomcat. What is > the trade of increasing this - increased memory usage? Tomcat/Java stuff is a great example of how many real-life command lines are much longer nowadays. As I originally stated, this is why I think a (to me, seemingly) more "modern" default is appropriate. Yes, it can be changed. But why should one have to, unless there is a clear disadvantage? (I do, and it doesn't affect me, but I am thinking of other people and new users.) I would be surprised if "ps auxww | grep X" not yielding output has not confused quite a lot of people, not neccessarly even aware that there is *a* limit, let alone how to change it. And as I said originally in the PR submission, I cannot speak to whether there are technical reasons other than memory use why this cannot be increased. But if the *only* issue is memory use, that seems like a complete non-issue to me given that even minimalistic simple C programs will typically depend on a stack size significantly larger than this. Again, even if the memory is in fact wired, it seems like a completely acceptable trade-off to me on any reasonable, modern, general-purpose system. I don't have any personal stake in this since I adjust the sysctl appropriately on all installations I manage, but I think this is an almost text book example of a seemingly small "detail" that may detract from the overall FreeBSD experience for new users in particular (and probably not-so-new users too). -- / Peter Schuller