From: Eric Wong <normalperson@...>
Date: 2011-10-13T05:21:50+09:00
Subject: [ruby-core:40125] Re: [Ruby 1.9 - Bug #5437][Open] Using fibers leads to huge memory leak

Robert Pankowecki <robert.pankowecki@gmail.com> wrote:
> ruby -v: ruby 1.9.3dev (2011-10-11 revision 33457) [x86_64-linux]

> fibers = []
> 
> GC.start

GC.start is never guaranteed to release memory (especially not with
lazy sweep).  Even if GC.start always releases memory (via free(3),
malloc(3)/free(3) implementations are not guaranteed to release memory
back to the kernel.

> We can see on our production instance that the more Fibers are in use
> the more memory is never reclaimed back to OS and the bigger the leak
> is.

Since you're on Linux, I assume you're using glibc/eglibc and hitting
this problem with its malloc.  The comment starting with
"Update in 2006" in malloc/malloc.c (git://sourceware.org/git/glibc.git)
can give you an explanation of why memory isn't always given back to
the kernel.

To workaround this glibc malloc issue, you can try setting
MALLOC_MMAP_THRESHOLD_=131072 (or another suitable value) in the env and
possibly trade performance for less memory use.