Arch Linux

Dr.U

Member

From: Ettlingen, Germany

Registered: 2005-03-03

Posts: 68

RAM usage higher after restarts

Hi,

I'm not really sure if this is a "kernel & hardware" problem. If not, could someone please move it to the appropriate topic area?

The problem is the following, although I unfortunately have not kept accurate records:

I use Arch and i3 on my desktop PC and always start the same programs at login: hsetroot, xmodmap (to set my mouse for left-handed use), conky. Upon logging into i3 my RAM use was about 73-75 MB before starting any other programs. Then I noticed that each day that I restarted my machine that the RAM use was somewhat higher. At the time I started tracking this RAM usage at reboot and login I was using linux 3.14.x series (not sure which "x" though).

Then came a new linux 3.14.x (which I would install) and upon booting into this new version my RAM use was again down at 73-75 MB. But it would again gradually increase with each reboot, seeming to top out at about 102 MB after several reboots and then remain at about that level.

The same thing is occurring with the 3.15.1 (which I currently am using): first boot into the 3.15.1 gave me RAM usage of about 73 MB. Now, many reboots later, I login and see that RAM usage is around 102 MB.

I also use i3 with an identical startup, etc. on a notebook and on this desktop PC but not with Arch -- instead I use PeppermintOS versions 4 and 5. When running the PeppermintOS this increase in RAM usage at login is not occurring (always remaining at 73 MB).

I know that this is maybe not such a big deal, but it is nagging me nevertheless and I see no reason why it should be occurring. This can not be normal. Can someone please explain to me why it is occurring or what is taking place? Is there a way to avoid the increase?

Thanks in advance,
-- Dr.U

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: RAM usage higher after restarts

Post the output of 'free -m'.
What is using your RAM?

Dr.U

Member

From: Ettlingen, Germany

Registered: 2005-03-03

Posts: 68

Re: RAM usage higher after restarts

Today my RAM usage immediately after login to i3 is listed as "only" 97 MB rather than the last time, which was 102 MB. This is still more than 20 MB higher than what I would expect.

Here is the output from free -m:

free -m
                      total   used     free   shared   buffers   cached
Mem:            2018     277    1740            1          37         141
-/+ buffers/cache:       97    1920
Swap:           1999        0     1999

I really don't know what is using the extra RAM. I started lxtask and added up all of the MB values listed in the column RSS, excluding that for lxtask, and came up with 81.6 MB for the 14 tasks that were listed. Conky appeared twice (7.3 MB and 9.1 MB) since I have it on the desktop and use it in the i3bar (8.4 MB), which I also use in the PeppermintOS (although there I do not use conky on the desktop). The only other "large" values (>7 MB) were for the commands i3 (10 MB) and gvfs-udisks2-volume-monitor (11.1 MB).

Thanks for the reply,
-- Dr.U