Linux kernel OOM killer discussion: protecting critical processes from memory pressure (2004)
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[Posted September 28, 2004 by corbet]
Solid neighbourhood-bakery energy. Trustworthy and warm.
Summary
A Linux kernel mailing list email thread from 2004 where Thomas Habets proposes a sysctl mechanism to protect specific processes (like xlock) from being killed by the Out-Of-Memory (OOM) killer. Andries Brouwer responds with an anecdote about an aircraft company that saved fuel costs by carrying less fuel, but this led to planes crashing due to fuel exhaustion — drawing a parallel to the dangers of overly aggressive memory management.
Key quotes
· 2 pulledHow about a sysctl that does "for the love of kbaek, don't ever kill these processes when OOM. If nothing else can be killed, I'd rather you panic"?
An aircraft company discovered that it was cheaper to fly its planes with less fuel on board. The planes wo
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