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Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 13:20:03 +0530
From: Noor <noor.mubeen@gmail.com>
To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: slab cache size-32 objects growing forever
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Hi,

I noticed that my system's (kernel 2.4.22) cache memory is fast reducing.
Its normal  value is around 225M always.
its reduced to 175M over about 30 days and still going low.

I notice this unusual behaviour /proc/slabinfo. 

total size-32  objects are very large. 
about 300 objects of some type are being added to size-32
slab every 10min. There is no sign of any reduction.

 size-32(DMA)           0      0     32    0    0    1
 size-32           1979925 1979986    32 17522 17522  

1) What kind of driver/kernel functions need to allocate such size-32 objects.
   ( for eg, if inode is for file inodes, size-32 is for ???)

2) Would it be possible to view the objects (any tool/utility for this)

3) What does this uncontrolled growth imply?
   is someone requesting size-32 objects uncontrollably or
   the Virtual Mem/slab is failing to release the cache.
   or could it be both ?

3) If this is some driver's fault, what kind of flags/code 
   do i grep in driver dir, so that it will help me figure
   a faulty  driver (eg; SLAB_NO_REAP ?) 

Thanks in advance.
Noor
(NB: newbie post)