Linux Addressing Out-of-Memory Killer Inaccuracy on Large Core Count Systems
4 months ago
- #Linux
- #OOM Killer
- #Kernel Patch
- A patch by Linux developer Mathieu Desnoyers is being introduced to fix inaccuracies in the OOM killer on large core count systems.
- The issue was reported in early 2025, affecting systems with 250+ cores/threads, causing significant memory usage inaccuracies.
- The inaccuracies led to incorrect OOM killing decisions and impeded monitoring, with some services experiencing tens of megabytes of deviation from expected memory usage.
- The patch improves accuracy but comes with performance trade-offs, such as up to 12% slower execution for short-lived processes and 9% increased system time in certain workloads.
- The patch is expected to be included in the Linux 6.20~7.0 kernel cycle.