[mythtv-users] A few 0.19 and RAM questions

[Phill Wiggin]

Michael T. Dean wrote:

>Phill Wiggin wrote
>
>  
>
>>Thanks for the info. I'll look into it a bit more, but based on
>>
>>http://gentoo-wiki.com/FAQ_Linux_Memory_Management
>>
>>"To see a better estimation of how much memory is really free for 
>>applications to use, run the command free -m"
>>
>>...
>>
>>But, the results from top and free both show similar results in the 
>>amount of swap used, so I still doubt that Linux naturally uses much 
>>swap space by itself.
>> 
>>
>>    
>>
>Basically, what I'm saying is that you can specify the swappiness of a 
>running Linux 2.6 kernel--controlling how likely the kernel is to swap 
>pages from memory and under what circumstances it does so.  Therefore, 
>output from top or free or ... without specifying additional information 
>is a wild goose chase in Canada (don't they have a lot of geese 
>there?).  You're all just chasing your own goose and not realizing it's 
>a different goose from the one the others are chasing.
>
>In other words, there's no one way that Linux does swap.  (You can even 
>control swappiness in 2.4, but it requires much more effort than with 2.6.)
>
>Tell me what you want to prove, and I'll configure a Linux kernel such 
>that top or free or ... "prove" your point.
>
>Mike
>  
>
I see what you're saying.  By default, kernels > 2.6.7 have a default 
swappiness of 60 (60/100), I believe.  So, as long as the people in this 
thread are running stock kernels, we should still be comparing apples to 
apples. That is: Does the default linux kernel uses swap naturally? 

For the record, if anyone's still interested, all of my kernels are 
gentoo-sources > 2.6.9.

And I don't think we were trying to specifically prove anything, other 
than standard linux kernel installs don't always use swap space. :)

Sorry for any confusion/aggravation!

--Phill W.