[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]
** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu) Status: Incomplete => Expired -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1328632 Title: whole system can unrecoverably stall just because of a single misbehaving program that eats up too much memory (causing trashing) Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Expired Bug description: If a single program starts misbehaving (because of an error) and suddenly eating up a lot of memory, the whole system becomes unresponsive and you won't even be able to open a terminal, or switch to a virtual terminal (ctrl+alt+f1) and kill the offending process. It's absolutely unacceptable that the whole system can so easily stall into an unrecoverable state where the only option is a hardware shut down, just because of ONE misbehaving process (no matter whether faulty or malicious). You easily find yourself in this ridiculous and enraging situation: - you perfectly know what program is eating up all memory and hogging the system (or you have just a couple of candidates and could easily figure out by running "top") - you perfectly know what to do to restore normal behavior: open a terminal, ps to find out the process id, and kill it. 3 easy steps - you can't do any of that because the system won't even respond to keystrokes and mouse clicks. Not even ctrl+alt+f1 to switch to virtual terminal works. You have no chance to run any command. The system should stop allocating the memory that process asks, or at least always keep in physical memory the essential processes that are needed to do the necessary tasks rescue the system from such a situation: open a terminal (or at least switch to a virtual console) and run commands. Also, responsiveness to mouse and keyboard should ALWAYS have the topmost priority, no matter what cpu-intensive or i/o-intensive task is being performed. An operating system that becomes unworkable just because of one single program's fault, is simply failing to do its most basic job. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04 Package: linux-image-3.13.0-29-generic 3.13.0-29.53 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-29.53-generic 3.13.11.2 Uname: Linux 3.13.0-29-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.2 Architecture: amd64 AudioDevicesInUse: USER PID ACCESS COMMAND /dev/snd/controlC0: teo 2155 F.... pulseaudio CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Tue Jun 10 19:55:17 2014 HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=ff7e702a-a05a-47fd-8c14-551e81f9e9e3 InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-11 (242 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424) MachineType: Acer Aspire V3-571G ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-29-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=5830b30e-69e8-4bb4-8a2b-bc2b43c7414a ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7 RelatedPackageVersions: linux-restricted-modules-3.13.0-29-generic N/A linux-backports-modules-3.13.0-29-generic N/A linux-firmware 1.127.2 SourcePackage: linux UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-05-24 (17 days ago) dmi.bios.date: 10/15/2012 dmi.bios.vendor: Acer dmi.bios.version: V2.07 dmi.board.asset.tag: Type2 - Board Asset Tag dmi.board.name: VA50_HC_CR dmi.board.vendor: Acer dmi.board.version: Type2 - Board Version dmi.chassis.type: 10 dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer dmi.chassis.version: V2.07 dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAcer:bvrV2.07:bd10/15/2012:svnAcer:pnAspireV3-571G:pvrV2.07:rvnAcer:rnVA50_HC_CR:rvrType2-BoardVersion:cvnAcer:ct10:cvrV2.07: dmi.product.name: Aspire V3-571G dmi.product.version: V2.07 dmi.sys.vendor: Acer To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1328632/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kernel-packages Post to : kernel-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kernel-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp