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Date:      Tue, 14 Aug 2018 17:17:34 -0500
From:      Jedi Tek'Unum <jedi@jeditekunum.com>
To:        freebsd-arm@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: RPI3 swap experiments (grace under pressure)
Message-ID:  <D04BB7AF-503F-4779-B31B-AEF2A15EA7C6@jeditekunum.com>
In-Reply-To: <20180814213107.GA51051@www.zefox.net>
References:  <20180812173248.GA81324@phouka1.phouka.net> <20180812224021.GA46372@www.zefox.net> <B81E53A9-459E-4489-883B-24175B87D049@yahoo.com> <20180813021226.GA46750@www.zefox.net> <0D8B9A29-DD95-4FA3-8F7D-4B85A3BB54D7@yahoo.com> <FC0798A1-C805-4096-9EB1-15E3F854F729@yahoo.com> <20180813185350.GA47132@www.zefox.net> <FA3B8541-73E0-4796-B2AB-D55CE40B9654@yahoo.com> <20180814014226.GA50013@www.zefox.net> <02fe39af-a02c-fb6a-70b0-da3b7fd06c22@goodgas.com.au> <20180814213107.GA51051@www.zefox.net>

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I firmly disagree with the entire concept of out of memory killers. They =
are simply evil and in my opinion a complete cop-out. I first =
encountered this kind of kludge back in the =E2=80=9880s with AIX. It =
was bad then and it still is today. Frankly I find it ridiculous that =
they still exist.

For 35+ years I=E2=80=99ve worked with many unix variants on everything =
from supercomputers on down. A majority on SunOS/Solaris. BIG Solaris =
systems running crushing workloads.

I have one question=E2=80=A6 when was the last time anyone saw Solaris =
kill a process because the system was under memory stress? In my =
experience, NEVER! And I wouldn=E2=80=99t say that the system became =
unreasonably unresponsive either.

As far as I=E2=80=99m concerned, any system deployed in a =E2=80=9Cmission=
 critical role=E2=80=9D (and I=E2=80=99m not referring to life-critical) =
has no business ever killing a process for load reasons. Period.

I=E2=80=99d go further and say that any unix system today has had plenty =
of time to evolve into a =E2=80=9Cutility-grade=E2=80=9D service and is =
therefore expected to support exactly that kind of mission critical =
role. To claim that it isn=E2=80=99t possible, or practical, just =
doesn=E2=80=99t hold water - Solaris has been doing it for a LONG TIME.

I=E2=80=99m fully aware of the disaster related to the current owner of =
Solaris. I=E2=80=99m not advocating the owner or, unfortunately, the =
technology for the same reason. But that doesn=E2=80=99t change the =
technical basis of saying this is a level of engineering that is =
expected.




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