From: Brandon S. Allbery (bsa@kf8nh.wariat.org)
Date: 03/29/93 

From: bsa@kf8nh.wariat.org (Brandon S. Allbery)
Subject: Re: Dynamic swapspace [was Re: What happens when Linux runs out of memory]
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 00:19:22 GMT

In article <9308114.21497@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU> fjh@munta.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Fergus James HENDERSON) writes:
>When that problem is fixed so that Linux handles out-of-memory gracefully,
>it should also be quite possibly to allow dynamically sized swapfiles
>that handle out-of-disk-space gracefully.

Um, no. Fixing out-of-memory requires tracking memory usage (this is
"necessary but not sufficient", in pedantic terms). Add dynamic swapfiles and
now you have to watch out for *disk* usage at the same time. The first is a
problematic proposition because there's no single solution that makes everyone
happy; the second is a logistical nightmare because it means the filesystem
code and memory manager have to work hand in hand, and even if you solve it,
it still leaves you with the first problem.

++Brandon 

-- 
Brandon S. Allbery                                       bsa@kf8nh.wariat.org

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