byeah
this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2024
454 points (97.7% liked)
196
16588 readers
1929 users here now
Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.
Rule: You must post before you leave.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
I honestly dont care about my browser using a lot of resources (processes, RAM, etc) because it may be helpful to the isolation security model of the browser. Each and every website is a possible malicious app.
has googles dick in their ass
I've been using the Firefox extension "Auto Tab Discard", which helps a lot with RAM usage. I like multi-tab-browsing and IME browsers just don't free up RAM when other applications need them.
load more comments
(4 replies)
What is the acceptable amount of ram a browser should be using? Is there a way of knowing how much is “wasted”? Is it even possible to waste ram, like what is wasted, time? Electricity?
It's only a problem if it doesn't give it up when other apps need it and there's not enough. Browsers just cache a bunch of shit in memory for speed and convenience, but they should unallocate it back to the pool if something else calls for it. The internet complaining about this for years and years are mostly doing so from a place of ignorance.
The issue is that browsers don't release much memory back to the system when it's needed. I wish they'd work more like the Linux kernel's VFS caching later, but they don't (and might not be able to. For example, I do don't think the Linux kernel has good APIs for such a use case).
You can write limits to and then poll files in /proc/pressure/ to be notified of resource pressure. Systemd will also set an environment variable for similar files for your cgroup.
The issue is that browsers don't release much memory back to the system when it's needed. I wish they'd work more like the Linux kernel's VFS caching later, but they don't (and might not be able to. For example, I do don't think the Linux kernel has good APIs for such a use case).
It does release it back to the system. It only doesn't if you actively have a ton of windows/tabs open, in my experience. Even then, it'll cache stuff to disk after awhile. Like on my phone, I've easily had over 20 tabs open in Firefox (Android) and it doesn't suck up all of my phone's ram (which only has 12GB). If your system is running less than 16GB, then that's another matter and you really should add more, as 16GB is pretty much the baseline on computers these days.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Empty ram is wasted ram. In theory the system should use whatever is available to cache and streamline.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(3 replies)
wait is that that shoebill
I mean, you got like a 85% chance that anyone giving you software advice is, closer to 98% for hardware advice.