Filling RAM

[Ricard Wanderlof]

On Tue, 5 Feb 2008, DMcLeod wrote:

> I am seeing that as files are created, their approximate size is
> subtracted from the available memory. For example, assume I have /home
> mounted from /dev/mtdblock2, which is a jffs2 filesystem on NOR flash.
> ...
> ]# cd /home
> ]# grep MemFree /proc/meminfo
> 22588 kB
> ...

MemFree in /proc/meminfo is not a good indicator of how much available 
memory there is to the system. Linux tends to gobble up memory for file 
buffers etc, freeing them on an as-needed basis. IIUC MemFree principally
indicates how much memory has never been touched, not how much is actually 
available.

/Ricard
--
Ricard Wolf Wanderlöf                           ricardw(at)axis.com
Axis Communications AB, Lund, Sweden            www.axis.com
Phone +46 46 272 2016                           Fax +46 46 13 61 30