On Tue, Jan 15, 2002 at 11:43:28AM -0800, Jesse Hammons wrote: > It sounds like the "OOM Killer" is working towards this goal. Where > can I find more information on this topic? Will it ever be possible to > keep a small program in pinned memory that can always come up and show > the user what is going on (and give a chance to kill processes)? The OOM killer is far from this advanced. It is a last-ditch, oh-crap, the OS needs more space NOW attempt to save the machine. Trying to deal with user input is likely to fail in these conditions. This isn't to say that you can't get done what you want -- only that OOM killer is unlikely to be the holy grail you think it is. :) You can write a program that lists and allows you to kill processes .. something like 'top', for example :), and run it on an open terminal. Then, you modify the program to call mlockall, to lock its RAM in place. You will also need to figure out how to lock into place all the programs you interact with between you and that process .. if you run it in a virtual console, I don't think you have to lock anything else. If you run it over an ssh connection, you need to lock the memory of the sshd process that handles your connection as well. Of course, you pretty much have to catch it before it gets horrible .. or swapping displays or whatever over to that other terminal to kill the other processes might be tough, and OOM kill might decide for you. :) -- "In God we trust, all others we monitor." -- NSA, Intercept Operators's motto, 1970
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