xorg memory leak

[javadimon]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg

Ubuntu 11.04
I run X session in classic mode, after some time my xorg taking more and more memory. Now, after 3 hours working, Xorg grab 1.4 Gig. I think it is memory leak.

[Mário Buči (mario-buci)]

I think I can confirm this. I'm using compiz. After 2-3 hours my system becomes more and more sluggish, Xorg consuming 740MB and increasing..

[Mário Buči (mario-buci)]

I think it's related to chromium-browser. I closed the browser, restarted it and everything's back to normal. System responds nicely, Xorg consumes less memory. Probably some adobe flash leak or something else.

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

Right, client apps can be memory hogs.

[Lupine (thelupine)]

No, this isn't an application (Chrome or FireFox) memory leak, it is the Xorg process which is currently stuck at 1.49GB of memory used.

[~]> top -n1 | grep Xorg
 1114 root 20 0 2005m 1.5g 17m S 6 38.6 568:15.14 Xorg

This only started happening after upgrading to 11.04. I've wiped / reinstalled back to 10.10, and I do not see this issue. This is using Ubuntu classic, with the following packages installed:

[~]> dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia
ii nvidia-common 0.2.30 Find obsolete NVIDIA drivers
ii nvidia-current 270.41.06-0ubuntu1 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module and VDPAU library
ii nvidia-settings 270.29-0ubuntu1 Tool of configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver

[~]> dpkg -l | grep -i compiz
ii compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2 OpenGL window and compositing manager
ii compiz-core 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2 OpenGL window and compositing manager
ii compiz-fusion-plugins-extra 0.9.4-0ubuntu3 transitional dummy package.
ii compiz-fusion-plugins-main 0.9.4+bzr20110406-0ubuntu2 transitional dummy package.
ii compiz-gnome 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2 OpenGL window and compositing manager - GNOME window decorator
ii compiz-plugins 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2 OpenGL window and compositing manager - plugins
ii compiz-plugins-extra 0.9.4-0ubuntu3 Collection of extra plugins from OpenCompositing for Compiz
ii compiz-plugins-main 0.9.4+bzr20110406-0ubuntu2 Compiz Fusion plugins - main collection
ii compizconfig-backend-gconf 0.9.2.4-0ubuntu1 Compiz Fusion configuration system - gconf backend
ii compizconfig-settings-manager 0.9.4-0ubuntu2 Compiz configuration settings manager
ii emerald 0.7.2-0ubuntu6 Decorator for compiz-fusion
ii fusion-icon 0.1.0-2ubuntu1 tray icon to launch and manage Compiz Fusion
ii libcompizconfig0 0.9.4-0ubuntu2 Settings library for plugins - OpenCompositing Project
ii libdecoration0 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2 Compiz window decoration library
ii libemeraldengine0 0.7.2-0ubuntu6 Decoration engines for compiz-fusion
ii python-compizconfig 0.9.4-0ubuntu1 Compizconfig bindings for python

[Lupine (thelupine)]

Is this the same as this issue:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers-180/+bug/726268

[javadimon (zubanov)]

I investigate my problem and find bad app. It was Avant Window Navigator. I
removed AWN and installed Cairo-Doc. Now Xorg works fine. Very fine.

On May 13, 2011 7:11pm, Lupine <email address hidden> wrote:
> No, this isn't an application (Chrome or FireFox) memory leak, it is the

> Xorg process which is currently stuck at 1.49GB of memory used.

> [~]> top -n1 | grep Xorg

> 1114 root 20 0 2005m 1.5g 17m S 6 38.6 568:15.14 Xorg

> This only started happening after upgrading to 11.04. I've wiped /

> reinstalled back to 10.10, and I do not see this issue. This is using

> Ubuntu classic, with the following packages installed:

> [~]> dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia

> ii nvidia-common 0.2.30 Find obsolete NVIDIA drivers

> ii nvidia-current 270.41.06-0ubuntu1 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel
> module and VDPAU library

> ii nvidia-settings 270.29-0ubuntu1 Tool of configuring the NVIDIA
> graphics driver

> [~]> dpkg -l | grep -i compiz

> ii compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2 OpenGL window and compositing
> manager

> ii compiz-core 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2 OpenGL window and compositing
> manager

> ii compiz-fusion-plugins-extra 0.9.4-0ubuntu3 transitional dummy package.

> ii compiz-fusion-plugins-main 0.9.4+bzr20110406-0ubuntu2 transitional
> dummy package.

> ii compiz-gnome 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2 OpenGL window and
> compositing manager - GNOME window decorator

> ii compiz-plugins 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2 OpenGL window and
> compositing manager - plugins

> ii compiz-plugins-extra 0.9.4-0ubuntu3 Collection of extra plugins from
> OpenCompositing for Compiz

> ii compiz-plugins-main 0.9.4+bzr20110406-0ubuntu2 Compiz Fusion plugins -
> main collection

> ii compizconfig-backend-gconf 0.9.2.4-0ubuntu1 Compiz Fusion
> configuration system - gconf backend

> ii compizconfig-settings-manager 0.9.4-0ubuntu2 Compiz configuration
> settings manager

> ii emerald 0.7.2-0ubuntu6 Decorator for compiz-fusion

> ii fusion-icon 0.1.0-2ubuntu1 tray icon to launch and manage Compiz Fusion

> ii libcompizconfig0 0.9.4-0ubuntu2 Settings library for plugins -
> OpenCompositing Project

> ii libdecoration0 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2 Compiz window decoration
> library

> ii libemeraldengine0 0.7.2-0ubuntu6 Decoration engines for compiz-fusion

> ii python-compizconfig 0.9.4-0ubuntu1 Compizconfig bindings for python

> ** Changed in: xorg (Ubuntu)

> Status: Invalid => Confirmed

> --

> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber

> of the bug.

> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/763370

> Title:

> xorg memory leak

> Status in “xorg” package in Ubuntu:

> Confirmed

> Bug description:

> Binary package hint: xserver-xorg

> Ubuntu 11.04

> I run X session in classic mode, after some time my xorg taking more and
> more memory. Now, after 3 hours working, Xorg grab 1.4 Gig. I think it is
> memory leak.

> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:

> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/763370/+subscribe

[Robbie Hott (roby2ka)]

I'm seeing it as well on 11.04. Xorg currently has 2.9GB of memory and both compiz and xorg are taking more CPU than ever before.

[mauros (g-angeletos)]

I am using 11.04 x64 without unity and without compiz. At some point xorg was using 4Gb of RAM!

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Original reporter indicates issue was a client app and is now resolved; closing as fixed.

To other commenters on this bug, X memory use is primarily a function of what client apps request; if a client app has a bug and mismanages its X memory, it shows up as increased xserver memory load. But the bug is still in the client app. It's a similar situation with high CPU usage... see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/HighCPU for some extra notes.

Sometimes you can determine what clients are consuming excess memory using the xrestop command, depending on the type of X memory the client is consuming.

Anyway, >90% of the time when X has high cpu or memory, you should assume a *client* problem, not a leak in xorg itself.

[Henri Keinonen (henri-1994)]

I can confirm that too. I'm using natty on ThinkPad T42 with 1GiB mem and Radeon 7500. I run modified Ubuntu classic session with compiz. After startup ubuntu uses 150MiB mem, but after 1h it starts swapping because all RAM is used. Also closing and opening windows jumps memory usage up, and also closing application does not reduce memory usage. xorg uses only 40MiB memory, and there is not any visible apps which have over 50MiB RAM usage. About after 2h computer is unusable.

150 processes and 900MiB on 11.04 when my server runs still 9.10 and over 300 process is running 24/7, only using 400MiB.
This memory bug makes 11.04 unusably.

Gnome terminal, gnome-panel, nautilus,pulseaudio and indicator-applet are also using big amount of virtual memory, but they sticks in under 10MiB RAM.

[Ofer Chen (oferchen)]

I suspect this has something to do with Nvidia's driver since I switched video card to ATI and the issue ceased so please share your video card while reporting this bug

[vinboy (vin-vinboy)]

Im using AMD graphic card and i also get Xorg memory leak. Im using KWIN and KDE if that matters.