limiting and dedicating memory/cpu usage

[sidetone]

To see how much RAM memory your computer has, use dmesg|grep -i memory.

For limiting MEM usage of a user, which also limits the programs ran under it
/boot/loader.conf

kern.racct.enable="1"

This must be compiled into the kernel, if it's not already there.

For myusername, use your user or any other group listed in /etc/group:
rctl -a user:myusername:memoryuse:deny=3840K
Also, enter this exact line into /etc/rctl.conf. deny says the max amount that can be used by this user. See https://klarasystems.com/articles/controlling-resource-limits-with-rctl-in-freebsd/.


For dedicating an amount of RAM memory to kernel
/etc/sysctl.conf

hw.physmem=512K

Also, use this on the command line with sysctl to make it take effect immediately. To see set values, use sysctl -a with | grep. See, sysctl(3) for details.


Need more ways of limiting/dedicating RAM and memory usage
On my computer, Firefox often causes FreeBSD to freeze up, and I can't get out without shutting off the computer. Hopefully, the above help.

To find the WM class of desktop programs, use xprop|grep -i class. Could use some help on using this WM class to restrict RAM/CPU usage for these programs. Then, may need to look at limits(1).

process allocation

forums.freebsd.org

 

[bakul]

For dedicating an amount of RAM memory to kernel
/etc/sysctl.conf

hw.physmem=512K

hw.physmem reports the amount of physical memory the system has. You can't change it (unless you can physically add/remove some DIMMs!). Also, the kernel is not paged.

 

[elgrande]

I guess top | grep -i mem may also show memory info.

 

[sidetone]

https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/porters-handbook/book/#users-and-groups

choose a unique UID from 50 to 999 and register it in ports/UIDs (for users) and ports/GIDs (for groups). The unique identification should be the same for users and groups.
Please include a patch against these two files when requiring a new user or group to be created for the port.

Then use USERS and GROUPS in Makefile, and the user will be automatically created when installing the port.
USERS= pulse
GROUPS= pulse pulse-access pulse-rt
The current list of reserved UIDs and GIDs can be found in ports/UIDs and ports/GIDs.

/usr/ports/Mk/bsd.gecko.mk

# This file contains some reusable components for mozilla ports. It's of
# use primarily to apps from the mozilla project itself (such as Firefox,
# Thunderbird, etc.), and probably won't be of use for gecko-based ports
# like epiphany, galeon, etc.

Perhaps adjusting Thunderbird's and Firefox's Makefile to group them as a new group of Gecko, then testing and submitting that to a bug report. Then RAM allocation can be better refined for Firefox and Thunderbird together.

 

[Cath O'Deray]

On my computer, Firefox often causes FreeBSD to freeze up, and I can't get out without shutting off the computer.

Can you describe the computer?

On my computer, Firefox has never frozen the operating system.

 

[sidetone]

Laptop.Toshiba Intel Pentium. It's over 10 years old.

IIRC, my more modern desktop which was an older Ryzen, crashed too, and I had to use the power switch. It didn't freeze up as badly, and got into runaway processes.