Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 16:47:52 -0700 (PDT) From: Don Lewis <truckman@FreeBSD.org> To: b.j.casavant@ieee.org Cc: freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: malloc does not return null when out of memory Message-ID: <200307242347.h6ONlqM7055640@gw.catspoiler.org> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSO.4.44.0307241800450.8755-100000@skyline.tdkt.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 24 Jul, Brent Casavant wrote: > [hopefully I didn't mess up the attribution, replying to a digest sucks] > > On Thu, 24 Jul 2003, Jamie Bowden wrote: > >> On Wed, 23 Jul 2003, Don Lewis wrote: >> >> > On 23 Jul, Brooks Davis wrote: >> >> > > No there isn't. Overcommit is a fundamental design feature of the BSD >> > > VM. If you don't like it, find an OS that doesn't do it. The only one >> > > I can think of off the top of my head in Irix where I've found it to be >> > > a serious pain in the ass. >> >> Irix allows for use of what it calls 'vswap' as well, which is just a file >> that lives on a normal filesystem that the system can fall back on when >> actual RAM and swap are exhausted. It allows for extremely large commits >> on memory limited systems while guaranteeing that it has somewhere to page >> out to if necessary. The poster above may not like Irix, but I do. >> There's a lot of good stuff in there, but SGI aren't the best at telling >> people it exists and how to use it. > > Almost. Having actually worked on the IRIX VM system, and on vswap > issues in particular... > > Don is correct in that IRIX doesn't overcommit. But that is only > the default swap configuration. I didn't say this, Jamie did.
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200307242347.h6ONlqM7055640>