Re: the new VMt

Erik Andersen
2000-09-26T17:02:48Z

On Tue Sep 26, 2000 at 05:04:06PM +0100, Stephen C. Tweedie wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Tue, Sep 26, 2000 at 09:17:44AM -0600, yodaiken@fsmlabs.com wrote:
>
> > Operating systems cannot make more memory appear by magic.
> > The question is really about the best strategy for dealing with low memory. In my
> > opinion, the OS should not try to out-think physical limitations. Instead, the OS
> > should take as little space as possible and provide the ability for user level
> > clever management of space. In a truly embedded system, there can easily be a user level
> > root process that watches memory usage and prevents DOS attacks -- if the OS provides
> > settable enforced quotas etc.
>
> Agreed, absolutely. The beancounter is one approach to those quotas,
> and has the advantage of allowing per-user as well as per-process
> quotas.

Another approach would be to let user space turn off overcommit.
That way, user space can be assured there will be no surprises...

-Erik

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Erik B. Andersen email: andersee@debian.org
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