GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 600468
gdm consumes too much memory when unused
Last modified: 2010-06-17 17:19:43 UTC
The gdm processes are using 10MB while logged into the desktop environment. Moreover GDM will not be used until the logout. On my laptop it is 4% of my memory. Is there no way to unload the program and keep only a tiny program loader which will load the full gdm features when logging out ? I prefer an add-hoc unloading than a swap memory. Indeed he computer would not have to spend time to swap when launching a new application since the gdm memory would have been freed before. Thus the computer would be more reactive, with a faster application start. ----- j@j-lt:~$ ps axlOv|grep -i gdm 4 0 1122 898 20 0 8736 3540 poll_s S ? 0:00 /usr/lib/gdm/gdm-simple-slave --display-id /org/gnome/DisplayManager/Display1 4 0 898 1 20 0 8804 3652 poll_s Ss ? 0:00 gdm-binary 4 0 1234 1122 20 0 8844 3048 poll_s S ? 0:00 /usr/lib/gdm/gdm-session-worker 4 0 1140 1122 20 0 26428 18084 ? Ss+ tty7 0:08 /usr/bin/X :0 -br -verbose -auth /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-4fe52d/database -nolisten tcp vt7 j@j-lt:~$ -----
I would suggest gdm to wait ~1 minute after the login before it unload itself and load the tiny program loader. It would avoid to use the CPU when the user is entering into the desktop environment.
When I log out, I use to click on the "shutdown" desktop menu entry. Thus I will likely not use gdm again after logging in.
Much of that memory is very likely shared. I don't think we want to unload GDM or anything like that.
With which other programs is the memory of a gdm program mostly shared ? Isn't it with the other gdm programs ?