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After waking from suspend, firefox 69.0 on Linux dramatically increases RAM usage

  • 3 replies
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  • Last reply by savhp

savhp
savhp
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Long time Firefox user on linux and only recently noticed this RAM usage issue. Maybe it also affects FF 68?

I can use firefox all day running linux peppermint OS 9(fully updated) with Xanmod kernel 4.19.66 but after I suspend the laptop and resume, firefox behaves normally for approx. 1/2 hour then RAM usage increases dramatically. I only noticed this while running a virtual machine and FF ate all my remaining ram.

Minimizing memory usage from about:memory helps for a short while but FF will again consume too much ram.

However, if I close FF and restart teh ram usage stays within normal limits all day ...until I suspend and wake the laptop again.

I have noticed this issue on two different configurations: 

1. T510 laptop running Peppermint OS 9 with windows virtual guest taking majority of RAM.  FF on linux host usually stays within 2GB of usage but after suspend it jumps much higher and consumes ram freezing the laptop.

2. W530 laptop running Windows 10 OS (1903) and Linux Peppermint 10 OS as virtual guest. FF on linux guest also consumes more RAM after waking Win10 from suspend and crashes Linux virtual guest.

Long time Firefox user on linux and only recently noticed this RAM usage issue. Maybe it also affects FF 68? I can use firefox all day running linux peppermint OS 9(fully updated) with Xanmod kernel 4.19.66 but after I suspend the laptop and resume, firefox behaves normally for approx. 1/2 hour then RAM usage increases dramatically. I only noticed this while running a virtual machine and FF ate all my remaining ram. Minimizing memory usage from about:memory helps for a short while but FF will again consume too much ram. However, if I close FF and restart teh ram usage stays within normal limits all day ...until I suspend and wake the laptop again. I have noticed this issue on two different configurations: 1. T510 laptop running Peppermint OS 9 with windows virtual guest taking majority of RAM. FF on linux host usually stays within 2GB of usage but after suspend it jumps much higher and consumes ram freezing the laptop. 2. W530 laptop running Windows 10 OS (1903) and Linux Peppermint 10 OS as virtual guest. FF on linux guest also consumes more RAM after waking Win10 from suspend and crashes Linux virtual guest.

All Replies (3)

cor-el
cor-el
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Does about:memory show what is taken up this memory ?

You can check the Firefox Task Manager (about:performance) and about:memory pages.

savhp
savhp Question owner
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Thanks for reply. About:memory is not able to help me because this event happens fast and as you may know linux locks up when out of memory.

As I mentioned memory usage can be good for long stretches and then it accelerates. I noticed the issue when running virtual machines and I leave approx. 2GB+ of RAM free for firefox. For example, on my windows host I have a linux VM (Peppermint10 OS) with 3.7GB allocated. The operating system takes 400-500MB and that leaves approx. 3GB for FF which is the only application open on the machine and I usually only keep 3 tabs open: Toggl timer, Freedcamp and Yahoo mail and sometimes I will open an extra search tab but usually close it when I am done. I have used about:config to reduce all cache values and under preferences>performance I have reduced FF processes to 3.

I have configured the linux memory subsystem as follows: vm.swappiness=25 vm.dirty_ratio = 18 vm.dirty_background_ratio = 9

For the linux host machine(Peppermint 9 OS) and windows guest I have 8GB of system RAM and allocate 3.8Gb to windows 10 guest and only open FF with the same tab usage scenario described above. If I open more than 3 tabs then I can watch RAM usage climb until I clear the memory or kill FF.

All my FF installations are synced and use the following extensions: Dark mode, Duck Duck Go, Ublock-origin, Webmail adblocker and Privacy Badger.

savhp
savhp Question owner
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While FF was running normally, I opened about:performance and what stood out is that the Toggl web site is using the most memory at 120MB, yahoo was second at 42MB and all other sites and extension were around 10MB.