Understanding Memory Usage On Linux

Percy_Blakeney writes "Have you ever wondered why a simple text editor on Linux can use dozens of megabytes of memory? A recent blog posting explains how the output of the ps tool is misleading and how you can get a better idea of how much memory a process really uses."

Comments

Before you start bitch about Firefox memory leaks

[tqft]

Have you been here? http://dbaron.org/log/2006-01#e20060114a
and helped do something about it?

Also see here
http://www.squarefree.com/2006/02/04/memory-leak-p rogress/#comments
about progress made and being made.

Extra, extra, read all about it

[tgv]

So, people don't know how to interpret the output of ps? And that's a Slashdot frontpage story? What have I done wrong in my settings to deserve such trivial items?

Re:Extra, extra, read all about it

[tgv]

This is Slashdot. It's not your www.i-am-a-grandmother-who-has-been-saddled-up-by- her-grandson-with-linux-and-has-just-discovered-th e-command-line.com
People here know how to deal with linux and are interested in more complex things and in news. This is neither. Although I have to agree with the person that wrote "give me another xbox story instead"...

Re:Extra, extra, read all about it

[tgv]

Slashdot isn't only about breaking tech news; it's about keeping geeks generally informed.

So, what's next? ls -h? Regular expressions? tee?

Sorry that you wasted a couple seconds reading the summary

Slashdot only publishes 20 to 30 stories per day, and it's annoying enough to find Star Wars trivia between them. There is a special "Linux" section that is devoted to stuff like this, but even there the level is higher. So what's the point of publishing this on the front page?

Hindsight is always perfect, but I really should have added an irony warning symbol.