Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 02:24:24 +0100 From: Jon Ribbens <jon@oaktree.co.uk> To: "Daniel C. Sobral" <dcs@newsguy.com> Cc: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, tech-userlevel@netbsd.org, tech@openbsd.org Subject: Re: Replacement for grep(1) (part 2) Message-ID: <19990712022424.A1390@oaktree.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <3789373D.9B1811F3@newsguy.com>; from Daniel C. Sobral on Mon, Jul 12, 1999 at 09:30:53AM %2B0900 References: <Pine.GSO.4.10.9907052110250.13873-100000@uther.wam.umd.edu> <xzp7locthir.fsf@flood.ping.uio.no> <xzp1zektgp2.fsf@flood.ping.uio.no> <5laet8b2l8.fsf@assaris.sics.se> <xzpiu7wrx7q.fsf@flood.ping.uio.no> <5lemij265u.fsf@assaris.sics.se> <3788714D.4E666FFA@newsguy.com> <19990712002043.C7067@oaktree.co.uk> <3789373D.9B1811F3@newsguy.com>
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"Daniel C. Sobral" <dcs@newsguy.com> wrote: > > > OTOH, though, FreeBSD's malloc() is very unlikely to return an out > > > of memory error. > > > > Why is that? > > Because memory (as in *real* memory, either RAM or swap) is > allocated on-demand. So you can allocate any amount of virtual > memory that the system can possibly provide you, even though you'll > run out of memory much earlier, because other resources are also > consuming it. Yuck. That's a complete abomination. What's the point of it? It's turning an out-of-memory situation from an easily-detected recoverable temporary resource shortage which can be worked-around or waited out, into an unrecoverable fatal error. Do a significant number of programs really request memory which they then proceed not to use? > > What happens if the process hits its resource limits? > > If the system runs out of memory, the biggest process is killed. It > might or might not be the one demanding additional memory. No, if the *process* hits its *administrative* resource limits. i.e. setrlimit(2). Cheers Jon -- \/ Jon Ribbens / jon@oaktree.co.uk To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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