Why don't more distros use ZRAM and EarlyOOM by default.

TheJooomes · 06-24-2021, 02:51 PM

I first discovered this stuff when using Fedora. I'm now daily driving Debian and have ZRAM and EarlyOOM setup. It runs so well, I don't understand why most distros just use a traditional SWAP partition and no EarlyOOM. ZRAM is extremely fast because it's compressing data onto the RAM instead of putting it on the storage drive. And EarlyOOM can be a life saver for a misbehaving app to prevent it from locking up the system. I've had only positive experiences. Why don't more user friendly distros have these setup OOTB?

syg00 · 06-24-2021, 07:09 PM

Because of an attitude of "all the bleeding edge stuff Fedora do isn't for our users !!!" ?.

Don't worry, they'll eventually get on the bus.

rkelsen · 06-24-2021, 09:29 PM

In an era where 16Gb or 32Gb of RAM is not uncommon, who needs swap space any more?

ondoho · 06-24-2021, 11:08 PM

Doesn't Ubuntu use that?
I'm pretty sure Linux Mint does, judging from lots of command output from various users here.

Also, isn't OOM a different scenario than swapping? Meaning, OOM means shutdown, swap means slowdown?

TheJooomes · 06-24-2021, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

Doesn't Ubuntu use that?
I'm pretty sure Linux Mint does, judging from lots of command output from various users here.

Also, isn't OOM a different scenario than swapping? Meaning, OOM means shutdown, swap means slowdown?

No, Linux Mint uses a swap file and so does Ubuntu.

OOM isn't related to swapping, it kills processes that are consuming memory out of control and are at risk of locking up the system. ZRAM and OOM are both memory management features which Fedora adopted on the same release. That's how they're related.

craigevil · 06-25-2021, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkelsen

In an era where 16Gb or 32Gb of RAM is not uncommon, who needs swap space any more?

The millions of Raspberry PIs, pinebooks, and other SBCs.

Code:

sudo swapon --show
NAME       TYPE      SIZE USED PRIO
/var/swap  file      100M   0B   -2
/dev/zram0 partition   3G 194M  100

ondoho · 06-25-2021, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheJooomes

No, Linux Mint uses a swap file and so does Ubuntu.

Well I'm 100% sure I've seen plenty of noobs(*) posting their fdisk output, and it contained half a dozen zram partitions.
(*) definitely unable to set it up themselves, so it must have been OOTB.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheJooomes

OOM isn't related to swapping

That's what I said.
It was you who put them in relation:

Quote:

I don't understand why most distros just use a traditional SWAP partition and no EarlyOOM.

But I see now that it could be read differently.

pan64 · 06-25-2021, 04:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkelsen

In an era where 16Gb or 32Gb of RAM is not uncommon, who needs swap space any more?

https://chrisdown.name/2018/01/02/in...e-of-swap.html

MattMadness · 12-12-2021, 05:56 PM

ZRam, No hibernation.

EarlyOOM, I'm not a fan of my OS randomly killing applications when RAM is full.

fatmac · 12-13-2021, 04:19 AM

Never had any problems with using ram the conventional way, so why change.

Just because something is possible, doesn't mean it is best for everyone.