Re: [Evolution] Locked up computer - memory pressure relief?

[Pete Biggs <pete biggs org uk>]

On Sat, 2020-05-30 at 08:46 +0100, Steve T via evolution-list wrote:
> Evolution 3.32.5 - Fedora 30
>
> I had an issue this morning where my laptop 'locked up' while I was
> replying to a mail. I was in the process of typing and had completed
> maybe 4 or 5 lines when the laptop froze with the disc activity light
> constantly on. This went on for minutes until I eventually re-powered 
> the machine.
> The issue may not have been in Evolution at all, as I have three or
> four processes start when I boot (virus scan, terminal sessions,
> browser, file manager, music player...) - so it may have been just
> the virus scan (clam) slowing everything down.
>
> I am only posting this here as once I rebooted, I checked the message
> log and it had a series of message, roughly at the time when the
> 'lock up' occurred, coming from Evolution:
> May 30 06:48:35 E6540-64 clamd[5883]: SelfCheck: Database status OK.
> May 30 06:51:17 E6540-64 org.gnome.Evolution.desktop[2430]: Memory pressure relief: Total: res = 
> 15634432/12214272/-3420160, res+swap = 14970880/14970880/0

Apologies if you already know this.  The system use memory both for
running programs and for file buffer cache. Sometimes a program
requires memory that the cache is using - this is memory pressure. The
relief is when the cache's are cleared and memory free'd up for
programs.

> ...is this just a perfect storm - clam, tracker... or is this problem
> specifically Evolution related?
It's probably a combination of a number of things - tracker can use a
lot of memory and it, of course, accesses disk, so creates cache. If
clamd is scanning a big file, especially an archive, it too can be a
significant consumer of memory. Evolution can also chew memory - I've
seen it for some (HTML) messages that have a complex structure; the
last time it happened was because some nice person sent me a Gb size
message (kill evolution, start without preview, delete message, shout
at person).

If you receive an over-size message that clamd is trying to scan,
tracker is trying to index and Evolution trying to display, then your
system might become a little sluggish.

I think your plan of upgrading to F32 (do it, it's much nicer!) and
seeing if the problem recurs is the correct course of action.

P.