[mythtv-users] mythbackend still eats memory: the current status

[David Lister]

Udo van den Heuvel wrote:
> Nick Rout wrote:
>>> It was suggested it was hardware related. And now it isn't?
>>> As you may have read I am sceptical about the the hardware-related
>>> claim.
>>> I do have slightly faster hardware around. Just not a DVB-T card or
>>> other
>>> video source with a multiplex that I can use. For that I need a
>>> workaround.
>>
>> well until you get another card or a workaround, take a hint.
>
> That would assume your hint was properly formatted and the contents
> would be truthful and effective.
> Your approach to problems is alien to me. So I need to adapt quite a
> bit. Also, how well is your $random_language?
> None of the questions I asked the cynic(s) in these recent messages
> were answered. The info that other people brought in reconfirmed (at
> least for a small bit) that the leaks issue is a general problem and
> not just related to my 'extreme' way using the software.
> I would expect that a developer with some sense of perhaps proudness
> would run valgrind over their code. Not as a diagnostic but as a test
> tool, *before* setting free the code. Now you push the burden of the
> whole issue to the end user. And yes, you will argue that it's all a
> volunteer thing. Sure, but the capable need to use their capabilities
> as well, as I explained with the valgrind suggestion.
> All I know is that problems will not go away by the way you present
> yourself in this case.
>
> As a constructive tip for the MythTV project: if your hardware is
> capable enough, *and* if you are knowledgable enough:
>
> Please run valgrind for a few hours or longer on your backend.
>
> Unfortunately the wiki has no info about this:
> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=valgrind&go=Go
> But I found some help about how to invoke valgrind:
> http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Valgrind-HOWTO/closerview.html#usage
> Doesn't look to difficult?
> If valgrind finds anything, please file a bug so the developers have a
> reason to fix stuff.
> Thanks you very much!
Did you ever performed memory analysis with Valgrind? It's really not as
easy as it might seem to you and a non-programmers especially. There are
tons of code operating in an non-standard fashion, allocating and
freeing unexpectedly and literally making Valgrind scream like crazy all
the time. When we're talking a small compact C application without many
dependencies, it's not that hard, but C++ itself and app the size of
mythbacked is a different league altogether. Did you know, that for
Valgrind to be usable at all, all used libraries have to provide
exception files? Those are definitions of actually-OK things it does
that Valgrind would normally flag.