>>>>>> "Adam" == Adam <adam@eax.com> writes:
>> I don't mind have reseverd %5 of ram so that I can su and kill whatever
>> offending process is. In fact I often run in one of windows 'sash' just
>> for cases like this one. I also often have serial console with root on
>> it already which comes hand too.
>> All I need is kernel to suspend the programs which needs memory
>> until *I* can figure out what's wrong and kill what *I* think is offending
>> process.
>
>Doesn't it sound simple ?
>Now go ahead, write it and show us that it (doesn't) work(s).
>
>
> Stefan
>
>PS: think about how you're going to choose which program to suspend,
> where to store it while it's suspended, and what's going to happen to
> the rest of the processes in the mean time.
As a matter of fact, Unisys (nee Burroughs) mainframes have
supported this for about forty years now. The process which
attempts to allocate memory is suspended (and the operator
notified). The operator can wait for jobs to leave the mix,
discontinue (kill) other jobs, or kill the waiting job.
This was implemented in the operating system by the Waiting
Conditions module and covered other conditions, like file
not present, tape not present, pack not present, etc. and
would allow the operator to continue the job when the waiting
condition was resolved (it would continue automatically if
the condition corrected itself, like a tape drive coming
on-line and the label matching that requested by the program,
or another job leaving the mix and relinquishing its memory).
The operator could, in the case of non-existent file, redirect
the program to a different file, if required.
This was easier to do in the mainframe because the 'command interpreter',
such as it was, was implemented in the kernel and thus was not itself
subject to the waiting conditions, but this could be done with linux
someday (albeit implemented a bit differently).
scott
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 23 2000 - 21:00:20 EST