There was a bug "(VM)Kernel prefers swapping instead of releasing cache memory" in RedHat bugzilla, which affected all RH9 systems. It was never corrected before End Of RH9 Life. However people are running RH9 systems still with no ability to install something completely new, as systems affected are in production. People say that the problem is flattening with Linux kernel-2.4.24 and ?almost? disappearing with 2.6.6. Red Hat never released kernels later then 2.4.20-31.9. So the issue is packaging kernel-2.4.24 (and possibly kernel-2.6.6) for RH9 users. ------- Additional Comments From myroslav 2004-06-30 02:45:22 ---- I'll put URL here either for those who read comments only. (VM)Kernel prefers swapping instead of releasing cache memory https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=89226 Original problem discussion at RedHat bugzilla. ------- Additional Comments From jp107.ac.uk 2004-06-30 08:08:02 ---- Building a "kernel rpm" based on newer kernel source for any particular system is easy enough to do. However making one which has all the patches (or compatible hacks which people expect) and writing a larger number of .config files and testing it all for RH9 (say) is a lot more work. If you just want a template to see how to roll your own you might look at: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/jp107/legacy/8.0/SRPMS/fwkern-2.4.26-2J.src.rpm which is (despite the name which is to avoid confusion/clashes), a kernel source rpm which we use to make 2.4.26 kernels suitable for _our_ firewall. Of course it only has one kernel config and that won't have anything like the extra modules/features people expect in a kernel for "general use", and it bundles in a copy of (a snapshot of) iptables in a quite hacky way so please *don't* actually try to use it directly (unless you happen to want the same modules we use on our firewall!) It does however show the basic structures you might use if you only need 2.4.26 kernel for a few systems. ------- Additional Comments From jim.laverty 2004-07-23 03:44:46 ---- Myroslav, I just switched jobs in the past two months, so I will add my comments in the next week or so. I'm in the process of updating my contact info everywhere and settling in at my new job. I have Fedora Core 2 w/2.6.7 and RH AS 3 running here in a production environment. I will post my notes here based on both of these releases. I will run some tests and benchmarks against 2.6.7 (since this is the Fedora section) and post the results using the same techniques I used on the old thread. I will let the https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=89226 thread die, as RH 9 has reached EOL. The 2.4.24 kernel and above should give the RH 9 users relief from this issue. The behavior was much better than 2.4.20 and 2.4.22 kernels. Jim ------- Additional Comments From jp107.ac.uk 2004-07-23 05:59:04 ---- > I will run some tests and benchmarks against 2.6.7 (since this is the Fedora > section) and post the results using the same techniques I used on the old Actually this is the "fedora legacy" section. I did suggest (elsewhere) working on updating RH9 (etc) to something based on a later 2.4.x kernel, but apparently this would be against FL policy -- the only allowed changes are minimal ones. Of course doing it would be a lot of work for RH9 since the ntpl hacks would have to be re-inserted against the more modern kernel. It would be less work for RH73/8 etc since they don't include the ntpl stuff anyway. Still working out which (if any) of the ~180 patches included in the RH9 kernels would still be relevant. One could start with the FC1 kernel which has far fewer patches and is more recent anyway... Going to 2.6.x for RH73/8/9, FC1 would probably be even harder... ------- Additional Comments From myroslav 2004-07-27 14:24:34 ---- > The 2.4.24 kernel and above should give the RH 9 users relief from this > issue. The behavior was much better than 2.4.20 and 2.4.22 kernels. RedHat was offering 2.4.20-31.9 kernel in last RHN update. You are referring to 2.4.24. It look like it need to have red hat patches applied. Does anybody know, if there are any resources dedicated to 2.4.24 and RedHat patches? ------- Additional Comments From marcdeslauriers 2004-09-18 17:33:30 ---- Fedora Legacy will only produce security fixes for the last kernel released by Red Hat. I am closing this bug. ------- Bug moved to this database by dkl 2005-03-30 18:25 ------- This bug previously known as bug 1797 at https://bugzilla.fedora.us/ https://bugzilla.fedora.us/show_bug.cgi?id=1797 Originally filed under the Fedora Legacy product and Package request component. Unknown priority P2. Setting to default priority "normal". Unknown platform PC. Setting to default platform "All". Setting qa contact to the default for this product. This bug either had no qa contact or an invalid one.