Re: [cobalt-users] memory use shown from free and top

["Zeffie" <cobaltlist@xxxxxxxx>]

> I have become convinced I don't understand the meaning of the output
> of the commands that show memory use. Shouldn't there be processes
> running that would eventually, reclaim memory that is not used and
> make the basic used numbers go down. As far as I can tell, I'm really
> only using about half of the memory, most of the time.  Most of it is
> available but seems to sit in the cache for reuse. This may well be as
> it is supposed to be, but shouldn't it eventually - say during
> relatively quiet times be reclaimed by the system,
> Josh Kuperman

ummm.. what system?

This is a ton of diffrent programs written by a variety of people that all
eat, think, and sleep their own way...  So what this means is that they all
used memory differently and that some things need more and some things do
more then others...  Some are just better then others...  so it's better to
look at these things on a process basis instead of a "system" basis...  it
just makes more sense..  now look at the way your memory is being used
again...

/bin/ps -eo user,pid,%cpu,%mem,bsdtime,stat,comm | sort | more
and read the %MEM column and restart some things and repeat...  You'll see
whats using the memory...

Zeffie
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