Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 21:34:35 +0100 From: Ben Smithurst <ben@FreeBSD.org> To: Nik Clayton <nik@freebsd.org> Cc: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Subject: FAQ addition Message-ID: <20000713213435.M48641@strontium.scientia.demon.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <20000713011414.B11472@kilt.nothing-going-on.org> References: <396A79E9.F3AD3D1@home.com> <20000713011414.B11472@kilt.nothing-going-on.org>
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--WU3I8Do+sziGY3UL Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Nik Clayton wrote: > 4. Read the -questions mailing list, and make sure that our FAQ is=20 > actually answering questions that are frequently asked. I'm intending to add something like this, --- book.sgml 2000/07/11 21:36:22 1.70 +++ book.sgml 2000/07/13 20:32:50 @@ -8411,6 +8411,20 @@ </answer></qandaentry> =20 <qandaentry><question> +<para>Why does <command>top</command> show very little free memory when I +have very few programs running?</para></question><answer> + +<para>The simple answer is that free memory is wasted memory. +Any memory that your programs don't actively allocate is used +within the FreeBSD kernel as disk cache. The values shown by +<command>top</command> labelled as <emphasis>Inact</emphasis>, +<emphasis>Cache</emphasis>, and <emphasis>Buf</emphasis> are all +cached data at different aging levels. You actually want as little +<emphasis>Free</emphasis> memory as possible.</para> + +</answer></qandaentry> + +<qandaentry><question> <para> Why use (what are) a.out and ELF executable formats? </para></question><answer> My only worry is that it's not detailed enough. Perhaps I could search the -questions archive to find other answers from the past and combine bits from them all... I'll look at that shortly. --=20 Ben Smithurst / ben@FreeBSD.org / PGP: 0x99392F7D FreeBSD Documentation Project / --WU3I8Do+sziGY3UL Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGPfreeware 5.0i for non-commercial use MessageID: B3zogAA/xQeSH8KXMohXCaFDTGpZQXYM iQCVAwUBOW4n2isPVtiZOS99AQEV/QQAl3w+8NxcJ2HxJbZthErzy/ow8OyahNXx z7ROAecXOzNBvdwj2gSGZJ8SAFU5MfDzhq7V1HwzYOE1P3UvHJ/7kiDeQHas5VGB VxmRPU8dA3c3zi9m2CEz3gW5loGOidYMTTIBECo44NXEMWPSAOBhdfPi9hUuQnLl FCwapG0CHaM= =ARTo -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --WU3I8Do+sziGY3UL-- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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