[SLL] 32 bit distro that supports 4GB ram with stock kernel

[Brian Lane]

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Rob Smith wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 7:01 AM, Brian C. Lane <bcl at brianlane.com> wrote:
>>  Actually, that sounds right. What happens is that the kernel uses a 4G
>>  virtual space for each process, and reserves a bit of it for itself. So
>>  when you hit 4G the usable amount of space is actually 4G - Kernel Memory.
> 
> Are you really trying to say that the kernel reserves 1 gig of memory?
> 
> That's majority excessive...
> 
> For example, my home server:
> Memory: 2032508k/2071552k available (3179k kernel code, 37192k
> reserved, 1466k data, 232k init)
> 
> that's 3.1 megs used, the reserved it a lot higher, but that includes
> the 32 meg ivtv buffer I have on the box, so it's rather inflated.
> 
> no kernel should ever, ever, ever use a full gig for itself unless you
> have a *very* specific reason.

Actually it does. Read the article. But it is 1G of *virtual* memory, so
you don't see the effect until you cross the 3G line on 32bit systems.

I probably wasn't clear that I meant virtual address space, not real RAM.

Brian

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