gnome-shell takes a lot of ram

[Yash]

gnome-shell takes a lot of ram

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: gnome-shell 3.36.9-0ubuntu0.20.04.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-64.72-generic 5.8.18
Uname: Linux 5.8.0-64-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.21
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sat Feb 26 10:41:29 2022
DisplayManager: gdm3
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-05-26 (640 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Release amd64 (20191017)
RelatedPackageVersions: mutter-common 3.36.9-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
SourcePackage: gnome-shell
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thanks for the bug report.

Memory leaks are almost always problems in an extension so please start by uninstalling these:

'<email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>'

and then log in again.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Please also provide output from 'ps' or 'top' showing the memory usage.

[Kay-Ro (kayro-d)]

Hi,
I've got a problem with extensive ram usage of the gnome-shell processes as well. It even causes my system to freeze up sometimes (when the ram is too low) and caused my system to crash a few times today already.
I noticed it occurring in the last week or so. It might be related to Ubuntu version 20.04.4? On my system the ram is filled up by 10+ gnome-shell processes and they use a combined 11+Gb of 16Gb ram. On a similar system with ubuntu 20.04.3 this does not seem to occur. My system has 12 cores and 16gb ram.

Disabling gnome-shell extensions did not resolve the ram usage. The issue sometimes occurs on startup and sometimes not. A restart via "alt+f2" "r" cleared the ram for me in one instance when I noticed the ram shortage but it did not prevent the issue from re-occurring.

Best regards

[Kay-Ro (kayro-d)]

Hi again,
a quick update: the issue occurs for me when I try to delete several files at once. In this instance I deleted about 500 files totaling 700mb but in another instance I only deleted about 200 files totaling just 75mb.
The attached screenshot shows the ram usage as soon as the system was responsive again (which took about 3-5 minutes).

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Kay-Ro, that sounds like bug 1876641 so try:

  gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock show-trash false

and then log in again.

If that doesn't solve your issue then please open a new bug by running:

  ubuntu-bug gnome-shell

instead of commenting here.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for Ubuntu because there has been no activity for 60 days.]