Now at Ubuntu VERSION="14.04.1 LTS, Trusty Tahr" seems that the one-and-only x86 kernel offered is with PAE, so I cannot easily demonstrate the difference between PAE and non-PAE kernels.
With the PAE kernel, my machine produces an OOM crash with the test command bash -c 'n=0; while [ $n -lt 33000 ]; do sleep 600 & ((n=n+1)); ((m=n%500)); if [ $m -lt 1 ]; then echo -n "$n - "; date; free -l; sleep 1; fi; done' My conjecture is that all Linux machines will produce an OOM, regardless of the amount of RAM memory installed. Your challenge is to prove me wrong: find any one machine that survives the above command without an OOM condition. (Obviously the bug, and thus the challenge, is for Linux machines with x86 CPUs and PAE kernels; but is for any distros, not just Ubuntu.) Should you succeed, you will have helped to better understand this bug and so contribute to finding a solution; I also offer the prize of a carton of beer to the first finder; and having knocked me off my soapbox, you will be allowed to feel smug and superior forever. Should you fail the challenge and have your machine reproduce an OOM crash, I urge you to complain to your Linux distributor or to the kernel people. (Seems that bugs are left unfixed for years if only a few people complain, to the point where Ubuntu abandoned the "working version" non-PAE kernel.) --- Maybe a workaround is to upgrade to 64-bit Linux with amd64 kernel. However... that is just a crude workaround without any guarantee of correctness, until some understanding of this bug: the kernel code is common between 32- and 64-bit. --- Long and boring details below. Cheers, Paul Paul Szabo p...@maths.usyd.edu.au http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au/u/psz/ School of Mathematics and Statistics University of Sydney Australia ----- psz@DellE520:~$ dpkg -l | grep linux-image ii linux-image-3.13.0-35-generic 3.13.0-35.62 i386 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-35-generic 3.13.0-35.62 i386 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP ii linux-image-generic 3.13.0.35.42 i386 Generic Linux kernel image psz@DellE520:~$ psz@DellE520:~$ uname -a Linux DellE520 3.13.0-35-generic #62-Ubuntu SMP Fri Aug 15 01:58:01 UTC 2014 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux psz@DellE520:~$ psz@DellE520:~$ grep -H PAE /boot/conf* /boot/config-3.13.0-35-generic:CONFIG_X86_PAE=y psz@DellE520:~$ psz@DellE520:~$ free -l total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 3092416 1027832 2064584 142520 125124 519192 Low: 870004 444336 425668 High: 2222412 583496 1638916 -/+ buffers/cache: 383516 2708900 Swap: 20000920 0 20000920 psz@DellE520:~$ psz@DellE520:~$ ulimit -u 23950 psz@DellE520:~$ psz@DellE520:~$ bash -c 'n=0; while [ $n -lt 33000 ]; do sleep 600 & ((n=n+1)); ((m=n%500)); if [ $m -lt 1 ]; then echo -n "$n - "; date; free -l; sleep 1; fi; done' The above produces an OOM as shown in /var/log/syslog : Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028298] bash invoked oom-killer: gfp_mask=0x2084d0, order=0, oom_score_adj=0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028309] bash cpuset=/ mems_allowed=0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028317] CPU: 1 PID: 19509 Comm: bash Not tainted 3.13.0-35-generic #62-Ubuntu Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028320] Hardware name: Dell Inc. Dell DM061 /0WG864, BIOS 2.4.0 05/24/2007 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028324] 00000000 00000000 eb845d68 c1652f30 eb86b400 eb845dc0 c164f4d9 c18437dc Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028336] eb86b70c 002084d0 00000000 00000000 f7b8d140 00000000 00000046 00000000 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028346] 00000000 00000206 c1944560 eb845dc0 e6e90d00 002084d0 00000000 eb845dcc Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028357] Call Trace: Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028372] [<c1652f30>] dump_stack+0x41/0x52 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028378] [<c164f4d9>] dump_header.isra.9+0x76/0x1c4 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028386] [<c11251d7>] oom_kill_process+0x167/0x2b0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028393] [<c12706fc>] ? security_capable_noaudit+0x1c/0x30 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028399] [<c105fa5a>] ? has_capability_noaudit+0x1a/0x30 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028405] [<c11256eb>] out_of_memory+0x22b/0x260 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028410] [<c112a011>] __alloc_pages_nodemask+0x861/0x980 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028417] [<c112a14c>] __get_free_pages+0x1c/0x40 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028422] [<c104e3f8>] pgd_alloc+0x38/0x250 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028428] [<c1053c1e>] mm_init+0xbe/0x100 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028433] [<c1054103>] mm_alloc+0x53/0xa0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028440] [<c117fb2e>] do_execve_common+0x18e/0x5c0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028446] [<c118018d>] SyS_execve+0x2d/0x50 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028452] [<c166128d>] sysenter_do_call+0x12/0x12 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028456] Mem-Info: Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028459] DMA per-cpu: Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028463] CPU 0: hi: 0, btch: 1 usd: 0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028466] CPU 1: hi: 0, btch: 1 usd: 0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028469] Normal per-cpu: Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028472] CPU 0: hi: 186, btch: 31 usd: 0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028474] CPU 1: hi: 186, btch: 31 usd: 35 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028477] HighMem per-cpu: Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028480] CPU 0: hi: 186, btch: 31 usd: 0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028482] CPU 1: hi: 186, btch: 31 usd: 71 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028489] active_anon:257982 inactive_anon:107478 isolated_anon:64 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028489] active_file:6032 inactive_file:38549 isolated_file:0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028489] unevictable:8 dirty:0 writeback:0 unstable:0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028489] free:127617 slab_reclaimable:3136 slab_unreclaimable:47160 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028489] mapped:22503 shmem:34751 pagetables:81384 bounce:0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028489] free_cma:0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028502] DMA free:4136kB min:788kB low:984kB high:1180kB active_anon:148kB inactive_anon:1812kB active_file:0kB inactive_file:0kB unevictable:0kB isolated(anon):0kB isolated(file):0kB present:15976kB managed:15900kB mlocked:0kB dirty:0kB writeback:0kB mapped:4kB shmem:1856kB slab_reclaimable:72kB slab_unreclaimable:2980kB kernel_stack:2296kB pagetables:8kB unstable:0kB bounce:0kB free_cma:0kB writeback_tmp:0kB pages_scanned:3156 all_unreclaimable? yes Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028505] lowmem_reserve[]: 0 833 3003 3003 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028518] Normal free:42404kB min:42384kB low:52980kB high:63576kB active_anon:89328kB inactive_anon:113816kB active_file:212kB inactive_file:128kB unevictable:0kB isolated(anon):256kB isolated(file):0kB present:897016kB managed:854104kB mlocked:0kB dirty:0kB writeback:0kB mapped:2536kB shmem:116764kB slab_reclaimable:12472kB slab_unreclaimable:185660kB kernel_stack:131496kB pagetables:10720kB unstable:0kB bounce:0kB free_cma:0kB writeback_tmp:0kB pages_scanned:360589 all_unreclaimable? yes Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028521] lowmem_reserve[]: 0 0 17362 17362 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028533] HighMem free:463928kB min:512kB low:28112kB high:55712kB active_anon:942452kB inactive_anon:314284kB active_file:23916kB inactive_file:154068kB unevictable:32kB isolated(anon):0kB isolated(file):0kB present:2222412kB managed:2222412kB mlocked:32kB dirty:0kB writeback:0kB mapped:87472kB shmem:20384kB slab_reclaimable:0kB slab_unreclaimable:0kB kernel_stack:0kB pagetables:314808kB unstable:0kB bounce:0kB free_cma:0kB writeback_tmp:0kB pages_scanned:0 all_unreclaimable? no Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028537] lowmem_reserve[]: 0 0 0 0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028543] DMA: 8*4kB (UE) 9*8kB (UE) 6*16kB (UE) 5*32kB (UE) 7*64kB (UE) 2*128kB (U) 2*256kB (U) 1*512kB (U) 0*1024kB 1*2048kB (R) 0*4096kB = 4136kB Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028569] Normal: 1511*4kB (EM) 861*8kB (UEM) 500*16kB (UEM) 265*32kB (UEM) 93*64kB (UEM) 23*128kB (UM) 0*256kB 0*512kB 0*1024kB 0*2048kB 1*4096kB (R) = 42404kB Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028592] HighMem: 0*4kB 1*8kB (M) 1*16kB (U) 1*32kB (U) 350*64kB (UM) 95*128kB (UM) 27*256kB (UM) 5*512kB (UM) 2*1024kB (UM) 2*2048kB (UM) 101*4096kB (MR) = 463928kB Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028620] Node 0 hugepages_total=0 hugepages_free=0 hugepages_surp=0 hugepages_size=2048kB Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028623] 79354 total pagecache pages Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028626] 0 pages in swap cache Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028629] Swap cache stats: add 7, delete 7, find 0/0 Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028631] Free swap = 20000892kB Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028633] Total swap = 20000920kB Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028636] 783851 pages RAM Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028639] 555603 pages HighMem/MovableOnly Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028641] 0 pages reserved Sep 15 17:12:54 DellE520 kernel: [ 403.028643] [ pid ] uid tgid total_vm rss nr_ptes swapents oom_score_adj name ... -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1098961 Title: PAE regression: OOM with just a few sleeps To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1098961/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs