Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!goblin3!goblin2!goblin.stu.neva.ru!newsfeed.xs4all.nl!newsfeed1.news.xs4all.nl!xs4all!newsgate.cistron.nl!newsgate.news.xs4all.nl!post.news.xs4all.nl!not-for-mail Return-Path: X-Original-To: python-list@python.org Delivered-To: python-list@mail.python.org DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=python.org; s=200901; t=1412365878; bh=W4YUPBrmPxZG6gqedFABwVeAXZ300e2J1UupZOMEwZ4=; h=To:From:Subject:Date:References:In-Reply-To:From; b=gfWHThWf8KlUvvF1cNnHOel394PsLXp+EzKHtuavlBjuDpm0U4LXp5JH1xMpsgXfc d6aLIxavgXXTUBFUkuVqnPu4FjJbBRfItRcFh5TpEG9xosQXz3u8TDmNTyKgzngjTp 7IvOyZ3HqHFraVe2bg/CMER1j39x1W+Q09M+iRH4= X-Spam-Status: OK 0.006 X-Spam-Evidence: '*H*': 0.99; '*S*': 0.00; 'memory.': 0.07; 'referring': 0.07; 'assuming': 0.09; 'received:80.91': 0.09; 'received:80.91.229': 0.09; 'received:gmane.org': 0.09; 'received:list': 0.09; 'subject:skip:f 10': 0.09; 'subject:still': 0.09; 'python': 0.11; 'antoine': 0.16; 'confuse': 0.16; 'from:name:christian heimes': 0.16; 'heap': 0.16; 'received:80.91.229.3': 0.16; 'received:dip0.t-ipconnect.de': 0.16; 'received:plane.gmane.org': 0.16; 'received:t-ipconnect.de': 0.16; 'from:addr:python.org': 0.16; 'wrote:': 0.18; 'memory': 0.22; 'header:User-Agent:1': 0.23; 'space.': 0.24; 'tend': 0.24; 'header:X-Complaints-To:1': 0.27; 'header:In-Reply-To:1': 0.27; "doesn't": 0.30; 'os,': 0.31; 'run': 0.32; 'quite': 0.32; 'running': 0.33; 'totally': 0.33; 'common': 0.35; 'something': 0.35; 'but': 0.35; 'subject:?': 0.36; 'virtual': 0.37; 'wrong': 0.37; 'to:addr:python-list': 0.38; 'does': 0.39; 'itself': 0.39; 'subject:" ': 0.39; 'to:addr:python.org': 0.39; 'received:org': 0.40; 'release': 0.40; 'address': 0.63; 'received:79': 0.64; 'different': 0.65; 'size.': 0.65; 'charset:windows-1252': 0.65; 'physical': 0.72; 'article': 0.77; 'leak.': 0.84; 'pools': 0.84; 'subject:High': 0.84; 'hundred': 0.95 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ To: python-list@python.org From: Christian Heimes Subject: Re: "High water" Memory fragmentation still a thing? Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 21:51:02 +0200 References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: p4fd27685.dip0.t-ipconnect.de User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.1.2 In-Reply-To: X-BeenThere: python-list@python.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.15 Precedence: list List-Id: General discussion list for the Python programming language List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Newsgroups: comp.lang.python Message-ID: Lines: 15 NNTP-Posting-Host: 2001:888:2000:d::a6 X-Trace: 1412365879 news.xs4all.nl 2922 [2001:888:2000:d::a6]:36115 X-Complaints-To: abuse@xs4all.nl Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:78663 On 03.10.2014 21:16, Antoine Pitrou wrote: > It is not a leak. It is a quite common pattern of memory fragmentation. > The article is wrong in assuming that Python doesn't return the memory to > the OS. Python does return its empty memory pools to the OS, however the OS > itself may not be able to release that memory, because of heap fragmentation. The article doesn't state if the writer is referring to virtual memory or resident set size. For long-running 32bit processes it is quite common to run out of virtual address space. But that's something totally different than running out of memory. A 64bit process can have a virtual address size of several GB but only occupy a few hundred MB of physical memory. People tend to confuse the meaning of VSZ and RSS and forget about paging.