Re: memory allocation bug in bash 4.2.39(1)-release

[Chet Ramey]

On 8/10/13 12:47 AM, Bob Proulx wrote:
> John Vincent wrote:
>> I find that if I enter the command:
>> echo {1..20000000}
>> it runs, but afterwards whenever I enter another command I get the error:
>> -bash: fork: Cannot allocate memory
> 
> You need to allocate more virtual memory space to your machine.  You
> are asking it to do more than it can do with the memory it has
> available.
> 
>> I guess that the memory allocated to all those numbers on the echo
>> command line is not freed properly.
> 
> This has been discussed previously.  Please see this message thread
> for the previous discussion.
> 
>   http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2011-11/msg00181.html

Other references:

http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2008-05/msg00047.html
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2009-05/msg00006.html

In short: malloc requests memory from the kernel but only returns it to
the kernel under certain special circumstances.

Chet

-- 
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
                 ``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates
Chet Ramey, ITS, CWRU    chet@case.edu    http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/