KDE 4 Memory Leak -- A Follow Up

Okay -- a follow up on my previous post about KDE 4's apparent memory leak. Despite following the steps I listed I found I was still prone to creeping molasses.

Here's what I ended up doing, which seems to have helped.

First, uninstalled all of the widget libraries I could locate (relax -- I reinstalled them). Then I went in and basically re-installed KDE 4, using Synaptic. I'll note for the record I don't have a lot of love for the newest release of Adept; it's a sorry downgrade of the version that came with KDE 3.

Next I installed OpenBox, which is an alternative window manager.

Once completed, I had the option, when logging in, of starting my session with KDE / OpenBox. This substitutes the OpenBox window manager for Kwin, the default KDE window manager, while retaining the KDE look and feel.

Compared to Kwin, OpenBox is a light weight. I confess, I can see no discernible difference between the two once I've logged in -- other than the fact that OpenBox doesn't seem to eat up almost every remaining byte of memory over a 6 hour period (we are talking 98% of my 2 GB of physical RAM and 75% of my 2 GB swap file).

I've been using  this configuration for about a week, checking memory usage with both System Monitor and top. So far, this seems to have corrected the problem.

Again, your mileage may vary.

Comments

Doug said…
Very nice solution, DR RALPH!

The plasma memory leak had finally bugged me to the point where I had to look for a solution. Openbox is a nice fix.

Thanks,

--Doug
Dr Ralph said…
Glad I could be of assistance. I know it was certainly a vexing issue for me.

God forbid we be forced to use Gnome (just kidding, folks!).

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