/proc/sys/vm/overcommit*

[Guest Trebor Rude]

I just discovered the /proc/sys/vm/overcommit* settings in Linux today. This controls how much RAM that malloc() and friends will claim is available. Looking at the settings on my Hungarian 2.1 / FLB 1.0 Pulse, I see that /proc/sys/vm/overcommit_memory is set to 1 and /proc/sys/vm/overcommit_raito is set to 50. From the linux kernel source Documentation/vm/overcommit_accounting file, it appears that these settings will make the OS claim that there's always 50% more RAM than is physically installed.

Everything I've heard about Froyo has said that it seems to work better in low-memory situations. I'm wondering if any part of that has to do with the tweaking of these settings (or other settings in /proc/sys/vm). Can someone who's running the beta Froyo (or even a real Froyo on a different device) check these settings and compare to the Pulse on Eclair? Or is anyone willing to modify the settings on their Pulse and see what happens? I'm not willing to try it on a phone I actually use.

Trebor