Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 13:02:23 -0500 From: Charles Swiger <cswiger@mac.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, Roselyn Lee <rosel@verniernetworks.com> Subject: Re: free memory keeps going down on 5.4-release Message-ID: <3984B6F3-870F-4412-A48C-27400147514F@mac.com> In-Reply-To: <20061106172202.GA10341@dan.emsphone.com> References: <12394E9FCB7C8441BB238D7F67B402E469856C@exch2.verniernetworks.com> <20061106172202.GA10341@dan.emsphone.com>
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On Nov 6, 2006, at 12:22 PM, Dan Nelson wrote: > In the last episode (Nov 06), Roselyn Lee said: >> Does freebsd use memory for disk caching that is not accounted for in >> these stats? > > Yes, free memory is used as cache. As "Free" decreases, you will see > "Inact, "Cache" and "Buf" increase. Yep. What many people are looking for when they ask "how much memory is available to run new programs" is actually not just the "Free" memory, but something closer to "Free" + "Inactive". However, stuff that is in "Inactive" which has been modified will need to be written out to the swapfile before being evicted to make room for another program... -- -Chuck
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