GNU bug report logs - #40116
GDM: Memory leak in .gnome-shell-real process

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>
To: "bug-guix" <bug-guix <at> gnu.org>
Subject: GDM: Memory leak in .gnome-shell-real process
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2020 09:18:11 -0500

I can't use GNOME anymore because of the problem I explained in the following thread:

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2020-02/msg00206.html

On recent system upgrades, the problem got worse. Before, I could get to the end of the day despite the leak; but now it takes around 3 hours for the .gnome-shell-real process run by the gdm user to eat the remaining RAM.

It seems that the bug is stronger in the GNOME desktop, but I've seen, at least once, .gnome-shell-real using an abnormal amount of RAM while in sway (about 800 MiB).

My current guix:

$ guix describe
Generation 61	Mar 15 2020 08:44:39	(current)
  sirgazil-x 8274cd7
    repository URL: https://gitlab.com/sirgazil/guix-channel-x.git
    branch: master
    commit: 8274cd78f9f6d58e00e057a0eabe58e4e143cc4d
  guix a431a63
    repository URL: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git
    branch: master
    commit: a431a63537c8103b2a58c9a55d90184fb5c90361


---
https://sirgazil.bitbucket.io/

Message #8 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
To: 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org,  sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>
Subject: Re: bug#40116: GDM: Memory leak in .gnome-shell-real process
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2020 16:09:57 +0100

Hi sirgazil,

sirgazil via Bug reports for GNU Guix <bug-guix <at> gnu.org> skribis:

> I can't use GNOME anymore because of the problem I explained in the following thread:
>
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2020-02/msg00206.html
>
> On recent system upgrades, the problem got worse. Before, I could get to the end of the day despite the leak; but now it takes around 3 hours for the .gnome-shell-real process run by the gdm user to eat the remaining RAM.

Ouch.

> It seems that the bug is stronger in the GNOME desktop, but I've seen, at least once, .gnome-shell-real using an abnormal amount of RAM while in sway (about 800 MiB).

Could you check if it happens in a VM?  That is, you build your GNOME
config with ‘guix system vm’, try to do some activity in the VM, and
check in top whether ‘gnome-shell’ is growing.

Thanks,
Ludo’.

Message #11 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Julien Lepiller <julien <at> lepiller.eu>
To: sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>,40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#40116: GDM: Memory leak in .gnome-shell-real process
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2020 12:09:36 -0400

Le 18 mars 2020 10:18:11 GMT-04:00, sirgazil via Bug reports for GNU Guix <bug-guix <at> gnu.org> a écrit :
>I can't use GNOME anymore because of the problem I explained in the
>following thread:
>
>https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2020-02/msg00206.html
>
>On recent system upgrades, the problem got worse. Before, I could get
>to the end of the day despite the leak; but now it takes around 3 hours
>for the .gnome-shell-real process run by the gdm user to eat the
>remaining RAM.
>
>It seems that the bug is stronger in the GNOME desktop, but I've seen,
>at least once, .gnome-shell-real using an abnormal amount of RAM while
>in sway (about 800 MiB).
>
>My current guix:
>
>$ guix describe
>Generation 61	Mar 15 2020 08:44:39	(current)
>  sirgazil-x 8274cd7
>    repository URL: https://gitlab.com/sirgazil/guix-channel-x.git
>    branch: master
>    commit: 8274cd78f9f6d58e00e057a0eabe58e4e143cc4d
>  guix a431a63
>    repository URL: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git
>    branch: master
>    commit: a431a63537c8103b2a58c9a55d90184fb5c90361
>
>
>---
>https://sirgazil.bitbucket.io/

I'm also hit by that bug. I do not use gnome though, and the .gnome-session-real process is owned by gdm. Ram usage is at around 200MB when starting and after a few days (putting the laptop to sleep during the night), it got to 2.4GB, even though I don't really need or use it beside logging in. After another restart, it was at 600MB after a day. That memory usage is ridiculous :/

Message #14 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>
To: "Ludovic Courtès" <ludo <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 40116 <40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: Re: bug#40116: GDM: Memory leak in .gnome-shell-real process
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2020 11:10:49 -0500

 ---- On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 10:09:57 -0500 Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org> wrote ----

[...]

 > > It seems that the bug is stronger in the GNOME desktop, but I've seen, at least once, .gnome-shell-real using an abnormal amount of RAM while in sway (about 800 MiB).
 > 
 > Could you check if it happens in a VM?  That is, you build your GNOME
 > config with ‘guix system vm’, try to do some activity in the VM, and
 > check in top whether ‘gnome-shell’ is growing.

I can try, but last time I did something like that the VM with GNOME was too slow to do anything (this computer only has 4 GiB of RAM).

Message #17 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>
To: "40116" <40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: GDM: Memory leak in .gnome-shell-real process
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2020 13:13:32 -0500

I tried a virtual machine with my system configuration during 4 hours and couldn't reproduce the leak (I used "guix system vm"). ".gnome-shell-real" kept using about 260 MiB of RAM and it actually went down to 220 at some point.

In 4 hours, in my real system, the leak would have been visible.

I'm planning to create another virtual machine with "guix system vm-image" instead to install all the packages I have in my user profile and leave it running overnight to see if there is any difference.

Message #22 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>
To: "40116" <40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: GDM: Memory leak in .gnome-shell-real process
Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2020 19:38:42 -0500

 > I'm planning to create another virtual machine with "guix system vm-image" instead to install all the packages I have in my user profile and leave it running overnight to see if there is any difference.

I wasn't able to create the VM image with this method. After an hour, the image was still building. I interrupted the process and gave up.

Message #25 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>
To: "40116" <40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: GDM: Memory leak in .gnome-shell-real process
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 12:01:11 -0500

I experience the same as Julien yesterday in a computer reconfigured with sway (no GNOME), but still using GDM. Here's a screenshot of "top" with gdm's .gnome-shell-real using 2.5 GiB of RAM:

https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/gnome-shell-real-leak-sway-2020-03-22.png

I'm currently trying other other desktop environments in combination with slim login manager to work around the issue.

Message #28 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>
To: "40116" <40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: GDM: Memory leak in .gnome-shell-real process
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2020 08:15:33 -0500

 > I'm currently trying other other desktop environments in combination with slim login manager to work around the issue.

I've been using a configuration with SLiM and GNOME for more than 20 hours with no leaks.

Message #31 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Jan Nieuwenhuizen <janneke <at> gnu.org>
To: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org,  sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>
Subject: Re: bug#40116: GDM: Memory leak in .gnome-shell-real process
Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2020 18:08:17 +0200

Ludovic Courtès writes:

> Hi sirgazil,
>
> sirgazil via Bug reports for GNU Guix <bug-guix <at> gnu.org> skribis:
>
>> I can't use GNOME anymore because of the problem I explained in the following thread:
>>
>> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2020-02/msg00206.html
>>
>> On recent system upgrades, the problem got worse. Before, I could get to the end of the day despite the leak; but now it takes around 3 hours for the .gnome-shell-real process run by the gdm user to eat the remaining RAM.
>
> Ouch.
>
>> It seems that the bug is stronger in the GNOME desktop, but I've seen, at least once, .gnome-shell-real using an abnormal amount of RAM while in sway (about 800 MiB).
>
> Could you check if it happens in a VM?  That is, you build your GNOME
> config with ‘guix system vm’, try to do some activity in the VM, and
> check in top whether ‘gnome-shell’ is growing.

That looks like an upstream problem

    https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/issues/64

are we going to investigate backporting a fix?

janneke

-- 
Jan Nieuwenhuizen <janneke <at> gnu.org> | GNU LilyPond http://lilypond.org
Freelance IT http://JoyofSource.com | Avatar® http://AvatarAcademy.com

Message #34 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Jan Nieuwenhuizen <janneke <at> gnu.org>
To: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org,  sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>
Subject: Re: bug#40116: GDM: Memory leak in .gnome-shell-real process
Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2020 18:10:34 +0200

Jan Nieuwenhuizen writes:

> That looks like an upstream problem
>
>     https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/issues/64

Sorry, this is not helping.

-- 
Jan Nieuwenhuizen <janneke <at> gnu.org> | GNU LilyPond http://lilypond.org
Freelance IT http://JoyofSource.com | Avatar® http://AvatarAcademy.com

Message #39 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Luis Felipe <luis.felipe.la <at> protonmail.com>
To: "40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org" <40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: GDM: Memory leak in .gnome-shell-real process
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2020 15:56:02 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

I've been using GDM again for 8 days now, and I don't see the leak anymore.

(Using guix 97e98e2)

---
Luis Felipe López Acevedo
https://luis-felipe.gitlab.io/

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #42 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: zimoun <zimon.toutoune <at> gmail.com>
To: sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>
Cc: 41215 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#41215: memory leak in gnome-shell
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2022 12:35:47 +0100

Hi,

On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 at 09:18, sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com> wrote:

> I can't use GNOME anymore because of the problem I explained in the following thread:

[...]

> $ guix describe
> Generation 61	Mar 15 2020 08:44:39	(current)

What is the status of this old bug [1]?  Especially since the last merge
of core-updates.


1: <http://issues.guix.gnu.org/issue/41215>


Cheers,
simon

Message #45 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Luis Felipe <luis.felipe.la <at> protonmail.com>
To: zimoun <zimon.toutoune <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 41215 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>
Subject: Re: bug#41215: memory leak in gnome-shell
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2022 15:13:02 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi zimoun,

On Wednesday, March 23rd, 2022 at 11:35 AM, zimoun <zimon.toutoune <at> gmail.com> wrote:
> 

> What is the status of this old bug [1]? Especially since the last merge

At least on my side (I'm sirgazil), the status remains the same: this is not an issue anymore.

I didn't close the issue, though, because I wanted to hear from other people affected by it first.

So, if Julien and Arne, for example, don't experience the issue anymore, I'm happy to close the issue.

[publickey - luis.felipe.la@protonmail.com - 0x12DE1598.asc (application/pgp-keys, attachment)]

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, attachment)]

Message #48 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: zimoun <zimon.toutoune <at> gmail.com>
To: Luis Felipe <luis.felipe.la <at> protonmail.com>
Cc: 41215 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>
Subject: Re: bug#41215: memory leak in gnome-shell
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2022 16:46:53 +0100

Hi Luis,

On Wed, 23 Mar 2022 at 16:13, Luis Felipe <luis.felipe.la <at> protonmail.com> wrote:

> So, if Julien and Arne, for example, don't experience the issue anymore, I'm happy to close the issue.

Let wait 15 days and if no answer, let assume it is not an issue and
close it. :-)

Thank you for your feedback.

Cheers,
simon

Message #51 received at 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Julien Lepiller <julien <at> lepiller.eu>
To: bug-guix <at> gnu.org, zimoun <zimon.toutoune <at> gmail.com>,
 Luis Felipe <luis.felipe.la <at> protonmail.com>
Cc: 41215 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, 40116 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, sirgazil <sirgazil <at> zoho.com>
Subject: Re: bug#41215: memory leak in gnome-shell
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2022 17:00:54 +0100

On March 23, 2022 4:46:53 PM GMT+01:00, zimoun <zimon.toutoune <at> gmail.com> wrote:
>Hi Luis,
>
>On Wed, 23 Mar 2022 at 16:13, Luis Felipe <luis.felipe.la <at> protonmail.com> wrote:
>
>> So, if Julien and Arne, for example, don't experience the issue anymore, I'm happy to close the issue.
>
>Let wait 15 days and if no answer, let assume it is not an issue and
>close it. :-)
>
>Thank you for your feedback.
>
>Cheers,
>simon
>
>
>

I haven't had that issue in a while, I tgink we can close.

Message #56 received at 40116-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Luis Felipe <luis.felipe.la <at> protonmail.com>
To: "40116-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org" <40116-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: GDM: Memory leak in .gnome-shell-real process
Date: Sat, 09 Apr 2022 15:19:21 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Ok, the issue is gone :)

---
Luis Felipe López Acevedo

[publickey - luis.felipe.la@protonmail.com - 0x12DE1598.asc (application/pgp-keys, attachment)]

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, attachment)]

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