Bug 4085

Summary: Netscape memory leak can take down a system.
Product: [Retired] Red Hat Linux Reporter: markster
Component: netscapeAssignee: David Lawrence <dkl>
Status: CLOSED WONTFIX QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: 6.0   
Target Milestone: ---   
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: i386   
OS: Linux   
URL: http://www.linux-support.net/
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 1999-08-18 21:42:05 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description markster 1999-07-17 14:08:05 UTC
Netscape contains very serious memory leaks.  If left
unattended on a page with autorefresh (like our incoming
queue page at Linux-Support.net), it will consume memory and
swap until nothing is left.  On my system, leaving netscape
open for four hours on a page that refreshes every 60
seconds, fills out the remainder of my 128MB of RAM and
128MB of swap, causing a panic (although nothing is logged,
and being in X-windows, I'm unable to see anything).
Userspace simply dies, while ping's and other kernel-only
functions remain intact.

I have a test technician account that I can make available
for anyone who wishes to duplicate the bug.

One potential work around I am currently testing is to add
"ulimit -d 32000" to /usr/bin/netscape to keep its
consumption under control.

Comment 1 Jay Turner 1999-07-19 14:21:59 UTC
What version of Netscape are you using.  I have seen a considerable
improvement in the leakage problem with release 4.61-1.

Comment 2 markster 1999-07-19 15:06:59 UTC
netscape-communicator-4.6-1

As provided in the updates to RedHat 6.0...

Comment 3 Bill Nottingham 1999-07-29 16:57:59 UTC
you might also try upgrading glibc to the latest version in Raw Hide;
there were memory leaks in some of the host resolution code; a
process that auto-refreshed would certainly run into this.