memory leak in myth-backend on x64 when recording from DVB-C / qam256

[ian dobson]

Binary package hint: mythtv

When recording from a "Satelco EasyWatch DVB-C MK3" DVB-C card I see a memory leak in mythtv-backend.
The system seems to allocate about 0.2% of the 4Gb ram installed in the backend every minute until the memory usage rises to about 80% then the system starts swapping and becomes totally unusable.
When the recording is finished the memory is not released. The only way to release the memory is to stop/start the mythtv-backend process.

kernel 2.6.24-16-generic #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 12:47:45 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux.

My cable provider sends DVB-C in QAM256.

The problem could be related to EIT and the option "Close DVB card when not it use".

mythbackend version: 0.21.20080304-1

I've run the backend under valgrind and have attached the log file.

Valgrind started with the following options:-
valgrind --leak-check=full --error-limit=no --show-reachable=yes --log-file=logfile -v -- /usr/bin/mythbackend
--daemon --logfile /var/log/mythtv/mythbackend.log --pidfile /var/run/mythtv/mythbackend.pid --noupnp | tee backend.log

Regards
Ian Dobson

[ian dobson (i-dobson)]

I've done abit more testing and the leak only happens on some channels. At the moment I can say that the leak happens on channel ProSieben (Pro7). Note I can watch the programms recorded from ProSieben without any problems.

After abit of googling I've come across several comments about "encoding fixups for German networks"

Regards
Ian Dobson

[laga (laga)]

I've forwarded your bug report to upstream. Thanks!

[ian dobson (i-dobson)]

Upgraded mythtv-backend to 0.21.0+fixes17453,
kernel to 2.6.24-18-generic leak still happening.

Regards
Ian Dobson

[ian dobson (i-dobson)]

Upgraded mythtv-backend to 0.21.0+fixes17490, tested with a "KNC One TV-Station " card and still seeing the leak.

[laga (laga)]

I seem to remember you commenting in the forums that this is fixed by a newer version of the weekly builds package. Can you confirm? (This was probably fixed by Janneg's charset fixup commit - although he doesn't believe that ;))

[ian dobson (i-dobson)]

Hi,

Laga, you have a very good memory :)

It looks as if the memory leak problem is solved, going through my memory
usage log for mythtv-backend the last time I saw a memory utilisation of
more than about 80Mb was on "Mon Aug 25 22:32:01" so the update to the
weekly build from just after this date fixed it.

Regards
Ian Dobson

Home of the Atmel based UDP mobile web cam http://www.planet-ian.com
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----- Original Message -----
From: "laga" <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2008 6:19 PM
Subject: [Bug 237137] Re: memory leak in myth-backend on x64 when
recordingfrom DVB-C / qam256

I seem to remember you commenting in the forums that this is fixed by a
newer version of the weekly builds package. Can you confirm? (This was
probably fixed by Janneg's charset fixup commit - although he doesn't
believe that ;))

** Changed in: mythtv (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Incomplete

--
memory leak in myth-backend on x64 when recording from DVB-C / qam256
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/237137
You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
of the bug.

Status in MythTV: New
Status in “mythtv” source package in Ubuntu: Incomplete

Bug description:
Binary package hint: mythtv

When recording from a "Satelco EasyWatch DVB-C MK3" DVB-C card I see a
memory leak in mythtv-backend.
The system seems to allocate about 0.2% of the 4Gb ram installed in the
backend every minute until the memory usage rises to about 80% then the
system starts swapping and becomes totally unusable.
When the recording is finished the memory is not released. The only way to
release the memory is to stop/start the mythtv-backend process.

kernel 2.6.24-16-generic #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 12:47:45 UTC 2008 x86_64
GNU/Linux.

My cable provider sends DVB-C in QAM256.

The problem could be related to EIT and the option "Close DVB card when not
it use".

mythbackend version: 0.21.20080304-1

I've run the backend under valgrind and have attached the log file.

Valgrind started with the following options:-
valgrind --leak-check=full --error-limit=no --show-reachable=yes --log-file=logfile
 -v -- /usr/bin/mythbackend
--daemon --logfile /var/log/mythtv/mythbackend.log --pidfile
/var/run/mythtv/mythbackend.pid --noupnp | tee backend.log

Regards
Ian Dobson

[laga (laga)]

Okay, then I'm closing this issue. The fix is also in Intrepid.