[memory leak] gnome-shell using a lot of RAM after repeatedly opening the overview

Bug #1856838 reported by Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 πŸ¦„
90
This bug affects 20 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
gnome-shell (Ubuntu)
Expired
High
Unassigned

Bug Description

Just noticed my gnome-shell was using 3GB RSS. Which seems excessive. Spoke to duflu on irc and he suggested I file a bug, and to make sure I'm not using any extra extensions.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 19.10
Package: gnome-shell 3.34.1+git20191024-1ubuntu1~19.10.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.3.0-24.26-generic 5.3.10
Uname: Linux 5.3.0-24-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.2
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Wed Dec 18 10:49:44 2019
DisplayManager: gdm3
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-02-04 (681 days ago)
InstallationMedia: neon userlts "Xenial" - Build amd64 LIVE Binary 20180202-11:07
RelatedPackageVersions: mutter-common 3.34.1+git20191107-1ubuntu1~19.10.1
SourcePackage: gnome-shell
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to eoan on 2019-09-19 (89 days ago)

Revision history for this message
Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 πŸ¦„ (popey) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

I can't see anything unique about this case right now. Since we already opened bug 1856516 this week, let's use that to track the general problem.

description: updated
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote : Re: gnome-shell using a lot of RAM after repeatedly pressing Super+A

Based on discussions I remember from last month, I think this bug should track: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/issues/1886

summary: - gnome-shell using a lot of RAM
+ gnome-shell using a lot of RAM after repeatedly pressing Super+A
Changed in gnome-shell:
importance: Unknown → Undecided
status: Unknown → New
importance: Undecided → Unknown
status: New → Unknown
Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: New → Triaged
status: Triaged → Confirmed
Changed in gnome-shell:
status: Unknown → New
tags: added: leak
Revision history for this message
Robert (rspier) wrote :

@vanvugt bug 1856516 doesn't seem to exist.

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Bug 1856516 is private to avoid people adding "me too" comments and confusing the issue with other irrelevant comments. If you experience any problems then please open your own bug by running:

  ubuntu-bug gnome-shell

tags: added: gnome-shell-leak
removed: leak
Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → High
summary: - gnome-shell using a lot of RAM after repeatedly pressing Super+A
+ gnome-shell using a lot of RAM after repeatedly opening the overview
tags: added: focal
tags: removed: eoan
summary: - gnome-shell using a lot of RAM after repeatedly opening the overview
+ [memory leak] gnome-shell using a lot of RAM after repeatedly opening
+ the overview
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Is anyone still affected by this bug? If so then please ensure you don't have any extensions loaded and tell us what version of Ubuntu you are using.

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Balazs Pere (perebal-sze) wrote : Re: [Bug 1856838] Re: [memory leak] gnome-shell using a lot of RAM after repeatedly opening the overview

Memory usage increases only at the first time when a push Super+A. Repeatedly pushing Super+A doesn't cause further jumps. However, this allocated memory never seems to be released (memory usage doesn't drop back to the original level).

On Jan 7 2022, at 8:32 am, Daniel van Vugt <email address hidden> wrote:
> Is anyone still affected by this bug? If so then please ensure you don't
> have any extensions loaded and tell us what version of Ubuntu you are
> using.
>
>
> ** Changed in: gnome-shell (Ubuntu)
> Status: Confirmed => Incomplete
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1856838
>
> Title:
> [memory leak] gnome-shell using a lot of RAM after repeatedly opening
> the overview
>
> Status in GNOME Shell:
> New
> Status in gnome-shell package in Ubuntu:
> Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> Just noticed my gnome-shell was using 3GB RSS. Which seems excessive.
> Spoke to duflu on irc and he suggested I file a bug, and to make sure
> I'm not using any extra extensions.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 19.10
> Package: gnome-shell 3.34.1+git20191024-1ubuntu1~19.10.1
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.3.0-24.26-generic 5.3.10
> Uname: Linux 5.3.0-24-generic x86_64
> NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
> ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.2
> Architecture: amd64
> CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
> Date: Wed Dec 18 10:49:44 2019
> DisplayManager: gdm3
> InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-02-04 (681 days ago)
> InstallationMedia: neon userlts "Xenial" - Build amd64 LIVE Binary 20180202-11:07
> RelatedPackageVersions: mutter-common 3.34.1+git20191107-1ubuntu1~19.10.1
> SourcePackage: gnome-shell
> UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to eoan on 2019-09-19 (89 days ago)
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/gnome-shell/+bug/1856838/+subscriptions
>

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Yes I noticed that part but it's not a bug. GNOME Shell often allocates things lazily the first time they are used, without any intention to free them if they are going to be used again.

Revision history for this message
Erik Meitner (e.meitner) wrote :

Problem is affecting my system. It gets to the point where the system starts thrashing so badly I care barely get to the console and log in to start killing processes.

Ubuntu 20.04
gnome-shell 3.36.9-0ubuntu0.20.04.2

Linux 5.4.0-91-generic (cherna) 01/08/2022 _x86_64_ (8 CPU)
root@cherna:~# pidstat -l -r
03:19:46 PM UID PID minflt/s majflt/s VSZ RSS %MEM Command
03:19:46 PM 1000 4670 99.93 0.17 7408772 2029368 12.77 /usr/bin/gnome-shell

At least I can ALT-F2 & "r" to recover some RAM. If I notice the problem in time....

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Erik,

Please open the Extensions app and tell us what you have enabled. Please also run:

  cd ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/
  rm -rf extensions

and then log in again to ensure there are none locally installed.

If the problem still happens then please run:

  gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.shell > settings.txt

and attach the resulting text file here.

Revision history for this message
Erik Meitner (e.meitner) wrote :

No extensions:

$ cd ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/
me@laptop:~/.local/share/gnome-shell$ ls -l
total 8
-rw-rw-r-- 1 me me 3658 Jan 17 06:52 application_state
-rw-rw-r-- 1 me me 0 Jul 19 13:13 gnome-overrides-migrated
-rw-rw-r-- 1 me me 1133 Jan 17 02:37 notifications

org.gnome.shell settings attached.

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Erik, since you are using:

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

you may be affected by these leaks:

  * bug 1876641
  * https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/4944

Regardless, please open a new bug to track your issue by running:

  ubuntu-bug gnome-shell

no longer affects: gnome-shell
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

[Expired for gnome-shell (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Expired
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