My X server has got a memory leak! :O (What can I do against it?)

[darthmob]

My problem is rather simple. Upon startup the X server starts hogging memory. first it fills the ram, then the swap file and then it crashes.

my setup:
ubuntu 9.04
gnome/openbox (http://icculus.org/openbox/index.php/Help:GNOME/Openbox)

I have attached some pictures to show what I mean:
the situation at startup: system monitor (http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=119337&stc=1&d=1246276337), htop (http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=119339&stc=1&d=1246276337)
and after running for a while: system monitor (http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=119336&stc=1&d=1246276275), htop (http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=119338&stc=1&d=1246276337)

As you can see the x server runs on 50% cpu. There are no other programs involved. Interestingly enough there are no problems if I start the xfce desktop or openbox without gnome. Despite installing updates I did not change anything in the last few weeks / months.

Anyone got any ideas what may be the cause or what may help solve the problem?

[iponeverything]

After you machine is up for while and its heavily into swap:

run:


top

Hit "M" to sort by memory utilization see what is at the top of the list. Your screen caps of htop are sorted by cpu utilization.

[darthmob]

like I said it's the x server hogging the memory. I made new screenshots with top and proper sorting. it's a slow but steady process which took about 45 minutes to get to the point the screenshots are made.

500mb into swap: system monitor (http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=119347&stc=1&d=1246284523), top (http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=119348&stc=1&d=1246284523)

[iponeverything]

like I said it's the x server hogging the memory. I made new screenshots with top and proper sorting. it's a slow but steady process which took about 45 minutes to get to the point the screenshots are made.

Sorry I doubted you, just had to see for myself.

===

Maybe its the driver or compiz

I found these looking around launchpad:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/353800

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/fglrx-installer/+bug/372345

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/360319

Here is one from the forums:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1149294

[darthmob]

I have got a nvidia card (8800gts) so I doubt it has to do with the ATI restricted driver. in addition I'm not running compiz. the only effects I use are with xcompmgr but it doesn't matter if it's running or not.

the strange thing is:
I only have the problem since a few days and it only occurs when I run GNOME/openbox (openbox as a wm with all the gnome panels and applications). running a bare openbox session or xfce shows no problems at all.

I wonder if it has to be with a recent update. is there a way to see which updates I installed recently? can I revert them? has there been a xorg update in the last few days?

nevertheless, thanks already for spending some time on google.

// EDIT: recently changed packages can be found in the synaptic history (http://www.watchingthenet.com/show-list-of-recently-installed-packages-by-date-on-ubuntu.html). I'll have a look if there is something suspicious.

// EDIT2: Nice, you can downgrade packages by choosing package -> force version in synaptic.

// EDIT3: Reverting the most recent updates from xorg-server-video-intel and compiz do not seem to change anything. What grinds my gears is some kind of "ghost process" which I have been seeing a lot lately. I don't know what it is and it's always there when the memory gets hogged. I have attached two pictures of it.

the first shows the process at the top of the list. there is no information available despite the pid. it blocks a shutdown / logout unless I ignore it which is shown on the second screenshot. I have seen this for a few weeks / months now but never payed it much attention. I'm not sure if the memory leak was already existing there at well but I rather doubt it.

[iponeverything]

run lsof on that strange process:


sudo lsof -p <pid of process>


You can also attach a strace to it:


sudo strace -p <pid of process>

[darthmob]

it seems like that strange process is openbox which is starting endlessly. I can't run lsof on it as it's never running long enough to enter the pid. top shows it as openbox though and the increasing pid matches as well.

now I have to find out why it tries to start openbox all the time. maybe I managed to get a loop somewhere in the startup files..

// EDIT1:
When I start openbox-gnome-session via the failsafe terminal it spams the following error:

Openbox-Message: A window manager is already running on screen 0
there is no problem when I just start openbox without any gnome. maybe my guess was not that wrong. I'll have a further look into this.

[onnod]

Similar experience to Darthmob. Ubuntu 9.04/Gnome/Openbox (Compiz is not installed). Gateway 6301 laptop with external SyncMaster 940BW monitor. If I select "restart Openbox" from the Openbox menu, I can cause the 'loop' to stop, and all of the "opening usr/bin/openbox" dialogs close, and memory is freed up.

In my case, I did install some items today:

Installed the following packages:
scim-chinese (0.5.91-1ubuntu1)
ttf-baekmuk (2.2-2)
xfonts-baekmuk (2.2-3)

These items were also in the Synaptic history, but they are not installed:

language-support-translations-en (1:9.04+20090401)
openoffice.org-help-en-gb (1:3.1.0-3ubuntu2~jaunty1)
openoffice.org-l10n-en-gb (1:3.1.0-3ubuntu2~jaunty1)
openoffice.org-l10n-en-za (1:3.1.0-3ubuntu2~jaunty1)
thunderbird-locale-en-gb (1:2.0.0.14+1-0ubuntu2)

Snippet of lsof -p:
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127961 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127960 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127959 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127958 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127957 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127956 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127955 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127954 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127953 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127952 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127951 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127950 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127949 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127948 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127947 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127946 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127945 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127944 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127943 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127942 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127941 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127940 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127939 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127938 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127937 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127936 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127935 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127934 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127933 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127932 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127931 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127930 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127929 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127928 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127927 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127926 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127925 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127924 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127923 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127922 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127921 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127920 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127919 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127918 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127917 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127916 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127915 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127914 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127913 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127912 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127911 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127910 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127900 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127899 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 127895 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root mem CHR 1,1 838 /dev/mem
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 0,0 7786 /sys/devices/pci0000 (stat: No such file or directory)
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 120652 4711178 /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfb.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 0,0 7784 /sys/devices/pci0000 (stat: No such file or directory)
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 34084 4622085 /usr/lib/libdrm_intel.so.1.0.0
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 63212 4711177 /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libexa.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 554804 4711107 /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/intel_drv.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 34164 4622083 /usr/lib/libdrm.so.2.4.0
Xorg 9265 root DEL REG 0,9 128491 /drm mm object
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 22696 4711183 /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libvgahw.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 9628 4711229 /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri2.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 34428 4711228 /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 338456 4711231 /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 92276 4711230 /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libextmod.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 950424 4622757 /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6.0.10
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 608280 4622726 /usr/lib/libsmbios.so.2.1.0
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 480644 4620533 /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6.3.20
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 83552 2048161 /lib/libz.so.1.2.3.3
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 1442180 2065626 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc-2.9.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 54740 2048065 /lib/libgcc_s.so.1
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 30624 2065656 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/librt-2.9.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 149328 2065634 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libm-2.9.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 1340132 5144604 /lib/i686/cmov/libcrypto.so.0.9.8
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 286148 5144605 /lib/i686/cmov/libssl.so.0.9.8
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 16628 4621883 /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6.0.0
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 222816 2048055 /lib/libdbus-1.so.3.4.0
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 66940 4620818 /usr/lib/libhal.so.1.0.0
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 268508 4622621 /usr/lib/libpixman-1.so.0.13.2
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 24252 4622141 /usr/lib/libfontenc.so.1.0.0
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 9508 4621872 /usr/lib/libXau.so.6.0.0
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 242704 4621889 /usr/lib/libXfont.so.1.4.1
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 116405 2065652 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread-2.9.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 9676 2065632 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libdl-2.9.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 21912 4622611 /usr/lib/libpciaccess.so.0.10.2
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 26096 4711232 /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/librecord.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 17860 4711227 /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdbe.so
Xorg 9265 root mem REG 8,1 117348 2048023 /lib/ld-2.9.so
Xorg 9265 root 0r REG 8,1 25954 2613304 /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Xorg 9265 root 1u unix 0xf4040c40 127880 socket
Xorg 9265 root 2u REG 8,1 859 2629681 /var/log/gdm/:0.log
Xorg 9265 root 3r unix 0xf4040a80 127881 /tmp/.X11-unix/X0
Xorg 9265 root 4r REG 8,1 29902 8101889 /usr/lib/xorg/protocol.txt
Xorg 9265 root 5r CHR 4,7 847 /dev/tty7
Xorg 9265 root 6w REG 0,3 0 4026531909 /proc/mtrr
Xorg 9265 root 7w unix 0xf40408c0 127885 socket
Xorg 9265 root 8r REG 0,0 256 7783 /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/config
Xorg 9265 root 9w REG 0,3 0 4026531909 /proc/mtrr
Xorg 9265 root 10w CHR 10,175 4823 /dev/agpgart
Xorg 9265 root 11w CHR 226,0 8124 /dev/dri/card0
Xorg 9265 root 12w CHR 226,0 8124 /dev/dri/card0
Xorg 9265 root 13w unix 0xf3fef340 128492 socket
Xorg 9265 root 14w CHR 13,68 1351 /dev/input/event4
Xorg 9265 root 15w CHR 13,69 4926 /dev/input/event5
Xorg 9265 root 16w CHR 13,67 2084 /dev/input/event3
Xorg 9265 root 17w CHR 13,71 5152 /dev/input/event7
Xorg 9265 root 18u unix 0xf4041340 128500 socket
Xorg 9265 root 19u unix 0xf4ed8000 128871 socket
Xorg 9265 root 20u unix 0xf4ed8e00 128890 socket
Xorg 9265 root 21u unix 0xf4ed9340 128894 socket
Xorg 9265 root 22u unix 0xf31c1500 129295 socket
Xorg 9265 root 23u unix 0xf2066e00 129241 socket
Xorg 9265 root 24u unix 0xf31c1c00 129475 socket
Xorg 9265 root 25u unix 0xf5fe56c0 129476 socket
Xorg 9265 root 26u unix 0xf31dac40 129552 socket
Xorg 9265 root 27u unix 0xf31c0700 130322 socket
Xorg 9265 root 28u unix 0xf4bd6380 129660 socket
Xorg 9265 root 29u unix 0xf3246000 129703 socket
Xorg 9265 root 30u unix 0xf23f7880 145109 socket
Xorg 9265 root 31u unix 0xf3e6bc00 129932 socket
Xorg 9265 root 32u unix 0xf3e6ba40 129969 socket
Xorg 9265 root 33u unix 0xf3e6b6c0 129978 socket
Xorg 9265 root 34u unix 0xf5fc6e00 130583 socket
Xorg 9265 root 35u unix 0xf3643340 130093 socket
Xorg 9265 root 36u unix 0xf2066a80 130491 socket
Xorg 9265 root 37u unix 0xf467d880 130503 socket
Xorg 9265 root 38u unix 0xf22d3a40 130998 socket
Xorg 9265 root 39u unix 0xf234aa80 137280 socket
Xorg 9265 root 40u unix 0xf22d2e00 135095 socket
(basically, it just goes on and on...)

Any help would be appreciated.

[darthmob]

If I select "restart Openbox" from the Openbox menu, I can cause the 'loop' to stop, and all of the "opening usr/bin/openbox" dialogs close, and memory is freed up.Nice, that does indeed work! Maybe it helps if you simply execute it on startup.

[FAJALOU]

I wish this issue was as clear cut for me;
I run straight gnome and Compiz and have been having the same issue. My lsof -p looks very similar, but when i try to strace it, I get a crash. Does anyone else have this issue, and/or ideas of what to do for it? Thanks!