GDM, GNOME and RAM issue

[sirgazil]

Hello,

I've been experiencing the following behavior for months, but didn't have the 
time to report anything.

When I boot, a fresh GNOME session uses around 1.3 GiB (I don't know if this is 
normal).

After several hours of work, the desktop starts feeling somewhat slow (e.g. 
when launching apps, switching work spaces). When this happens, RAM usage is 
around 3 GiB (of 4 GiB in total). If I continue working, RAM usage continues to 
go up little by little, and I have to reboot at some point, because memory is 
not released and things become slower.

When RAM usage is very high, closing all applications reduces usage to 2 GiB 
approx. (which I think is too high). If I log out and then log back in, those 2 
GiB are still in use (which I think is odd).

Here are some screenshots of resource usage reported by the "top" program. GDM 
looks suspicious:

• RAM usage after several hours of work with the applications I use every day 
still running:

    
https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-session-after-hours-of-work-all-apps-2020-02-23.png

• RAM usage after closing all applications:

    
https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-session-after-hours-of-work-all-apps-closed-2020-02-23.png

• RAM usage after logging out and then login back in:

    
https://multimedialib.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/gnome-session-after-hours-of-work-re-log-in-2020-02-23.png


I decided to try sway to see if I had the same problem there, but I think it is 
something related to GDM+GNOME. In sway, a fresh session uses around 700 MiB; 
after hours of work (using the same applications I use every day), RAM usage 
stays between 2 and 2.5 GiB; and when I exit all applications, RAM seems to be 
released ok (descends to 900 MiB approx.).

So, I don't know...


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