memory leak in gnome-shell

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

With latest Ubuntu updates I no longer experience this problem with 11.10. Gnome shell runs fine with max. 30 mb.

Ok. I will check and report it.

Now I use it, and it work properly.

get this really bad on 11.10 64bit.

it sits anywhere upto around 500mb but it has been upto 2.1gb a few times, when it goes out of control it goes up up 0.4mb each time System Monitor refreshes.

not sure what information would be helpful in fixing this but will supply on request :)

koert@desktop:/$ uname -a
Linux desktop 3.0.0-13-generic #22-Ubuntu SMP Wed Nov 2 13:27:26 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

koert@desktop:/$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=oneiric
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 11.10"

koert@desktop:/$ apt-cache show gnome-shell
Package: gnome-shell
Priority: optional
Section: universe/gnome
Installed-Size: 4868
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <email address hidden>
Original-Maintainer: Gustavo Noronha Silva <email address hidden>
Architecture: amd64
Version: 3.2.0-0ubuntu1
...

koert@desktop:/$ ps ux
...
koert 10355 4.6 22.8 1677996 926888 pts/2 Sl Dec18 57:54 gnome-shell --replace
...

Summary of the above:
This is the latest ubuntu with the latest gnome-shell, on x86. Gnome shell is displayed usig 1gb of memory use after two and a half days (mostly idle). This was an unusually good run: usually it reaches this level after only one day.

I have a very similar setup elsewhere, which doesn't have the problem. I suspect the problem to be in user configuration; apart from my home dir, this was a clean install of last november. My home dir is much older; it stems from april last year. (lucid)

There have been a whole bunch of memory leaks fixed upstream (in the gnome-shell 3.3 branch). It would be good if some of these fixes could be backported since Ubuntu is sticking with gnome 3.2 for the next release cycle also.

I am using 3.3.5 from the Testing repositories.

If I DO NOT use the System Monitor extension, the leaks appear to be all fixed. G-S starts with 85M, and eventually expands to no more than ~110-120M, depending on how many windows and workspaces I have open.

If I DO use the System Monitor extension, there is still a leak.

Using Gnome 3.3 from the Gnome3-Team ppa in Ubuntu 12.04 beta. No extensions, and I get a memory leak that causes Gnome-Shell to expand to around 6GB of ram in roughly 8 hours.

leak observed with gnome-shell 3.3.90-0ubuntu1 on precise

$ ps ux | grep gnome-shell
coyang 19893 3.3 8.7 2327084 687236 ? Sl Mar18 7:20 gnome-shell --replace
coyang 19902 0.0 0.0 302508 5844 ? Sl Mar18 0:00 /usr/lib/gnome-shell/gnome-shell-calendar-server

coyang:~$ ps auxwwwww|grep gnome-shell
coyang 19893 3.3 8.8 2330044 690200 ? Sl Mar18 7:23 gnome-shell --replace
coyang 19902 0.0 0.0 302508 5844 ? Sl Mar18 0:00 /usr/lib/gnome-shell/gnome-shell-calendar-server

$ apt-cache show gnome-shell
Package: gnome-shell
Priority: optional
Section: universe/gnome
Installed-Size: 918
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <email address hidden>
Original-Maintainer: Debian GNOME Maintainers <email address hidden>
Architecture: amd64
Version: 3.3.90-0ubuntu1
Depends: gir1.2-atk-1.0, gir1.2-clutter-1.0, gir1.2-cogl-1.0, gir1.2-coglpango-1.0, gir1.2-folks-0.6, gir1.2-freedesktop, gir1.2-gdesktopenums-3.0, gir1.2-gdkpixbuf-2.0, gir1.2-gee-1.0,
gir1.2-glib-2.0 (>= 1.31), gir1.2-gmenu-3.0, gir1.2-gtk-3.0, gir1.2-json-1.0, gir1.2-mutter-3.0 (>= 3.3.90), gir1.2-networkmanager-1.0, gir1.2-pango-1.0, gir1.2-soup-2.4, gir1.2-telepath
yglib-0.12, gir1.2-telepathylogger-0.2, gnome-icon-theme-full, dconf-gsettings-backend | gsettings-backend, gconf-service, gnome-bluetooth (>= 3.0.0), libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.12.4), libc6 (>=
2.14), libcairo2 (>= 1.10.0), libcanberra0 (>= 0.2), libclutter-1.0-0 (>= 1.9.11), libcogl-pango0 (>= 1.7.4), libcogl9 (>= 1.7.4), libcroco3 (>= 0.6.2), libdbus-glib-1-2 (>= 0.78), libec
al-1.2-10 (>= 3.2.3), libedataserver-1.2-15 (>= 3.2.3), libedataserverui-3.0-1 (>= 3.2.3), libfolks25 (>= 0.6.0), libgconf-2-4 (>= 2.31.1), libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 (>= 2.22.0), libgee2 (>= 0.
5.0), libgirepository-1.0-1 (>= 0.9.2), libgjs0-, libgjs0c (>= 1.31.20), libgl1-mesa-glx | libgl1, libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.31.6), libgnome-keyring0 (>= 3.2.2-2~), libgnome-menu-3-0 (>= 3.2.0.
1), libgstreamer0.10-0 (>= 0.10.20), libgtk-3-0 (>= 3.3.9), libical0 (>= 0.30), libjson-glib-1.0-0 (>= 0.13.2), libmozjs185-1.0 (>= 1.8.5-1.0.0), libmutter0 (>= 3.3), libmutter0 (<< 3.4)
, libnm-glib4 (>= 0.8.998), libnm-util2 (>= 0.8.998), libpango1.0-0 (>= 1.14.0), libpolkit-agent-1-0 (>= 0.99), libpolkit-gobject-1-0 (>= 0.94), libpulse-mainloop-glib0 (>= 1:0.99.1), li
bpulse0 (>= 1:0.99.1), libstartup-notification0 (>= 0.11), libtelepathy-glib0 (>= 0.17.5), libtelepathy-logger2 (>= 0.2.0), libx11-6, libxfixes3 (>= 1:5.0), libxml2 (>= 2.7.4), gnome-she
ll-common (= 3.3.90-0ubuntu1), gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0, gir1.2-caribou-1.0, gir1.2-gconf-2.0, gir1.2-gjs-1.0, gir1.2-gkbd-3.0, gir1.2-gnomebluetooth-1.0, gir1.2-polkit-1.0, gir1.2-upo
werglib-1.0, gjs (>= 1.30), gnome-icon-theme-symbolic (>= 2.91), gnome-settings-daemon (>= 2.91.5.1), gsettings-desktop-schemas (>= 3.3.2), python (>= 2.6), telepathy-mission-control-5
Recommends: cups-pk-helper, gnome-contacts, gnome-control-center, gnome-session-fallback, gnome-themes-standard, gnome-user-guide
Breaks: fglrx-driver (<< 1:11-10), gnome-control-center (<< 1:3.0), gnome-session (<< 3.0), gnome-tweak-tool (<< 3.3)
Filename: pool/universe/g/gnome-shell/gnome-sh...

Spoke too soon. Leak still exists in Quantal/3.6, though smaller/slower, and requires using the computer (not just letting it sit there).

The Gnome team claims this is a "known issue" with the binary nVidia driver, but have yet to state exactly *which* known issue it is. Regardless, I've also reported it to nVidia.

It could 'cos of nVidia, too. But I don't have nVidia, just integrated Intel.

Of course "could be".

I'm also having this problem on Ubuntu 12.10, it takes a day or two to bring my 4GB RAM system to a crawl, and I'm using no nvidia driver but Intel(0): [DRI2] DRI driver: i965

This is a serious problem that I can only solve (and continue working) because I know how to get to a shell and kill and restart gnome-shell.

I'm experiencing this issue as well (version 3.6.1 from the PPA). I'm using an ATI card with the proprietary binary drivers. Gnome shell starts at about 30M, and works up very slowly (I'm assuming some initialization is going on the background) and levels off. However, as soon as I hit the Activities for the first time, memory spikes up about 20M. Then each subsequent hit will jump it up a little over 1M for each hit. If I let it sit after these subsequent hits, the memory does not get released.

The worst I've seen mine consume was around 200M. But still, that's far from what it should be taking.

this is not driver specific and its very easy to reproduce. I see the issue on intel. to easily reproduce open the system monitor and look at the gnome-shell process. Now pick an applet on the top panel (such as the user menu) and rapidly click on it. memory will just keep rising, and rising, and rising.

forgot to mention I'm on 12.10/gnome 3.6

I think I found the upstream bug report for this: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=685513

well, this is fix is only half of a fix - the other as far as I remember being the clutter bindings, so memory will till be going up, just slower. a fix for the second source of the bug is expected with gnome 3.10

When does this bug be fixed in GNOME Shell 3.6.x? I have had to upgrade to GS 3.8 to avoid this bug.

EOL reached for that serie https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Fixed in 3.8 (gnome3-team ppa)

I'm getting the same problem in 13.10 64 bit. It uses several GB after running for a few days.