Tuesday, November 13th 2007

Mozilla Still Perplexed as to Why Firefox Takes So Much RAM

Anyone who uses Mozilla Firefox in a Windows environment knows that Firefox can use a lot of memory. Now that Mozilla is getting a lot of requests to make a mobile version, they are working very hard to make a version that won't eat all of the mobile phone's memory. Christopher Blizzard, a member of Mozilla's development board, had this to say about Firefox's alleged memory issues.
As Mozilla starts down the path to running in the mobile space we are spending time looking at memory pressure issues more closely. . . (I)t sounds like the early data suggests that Mozilla really doesn't leak that much memory at all. But it does thrash the allocator pretty hard and that's what causes the perception of memory leaks.
Source: CRN
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56 Comments on Mozilla Still Perplexed as to Why Firefox Takes So Much RAM

#51
jurrasstoil
Hmm, I'd be happy about FF using less memory - it would be a plus.
But with at least 2gb of ram in my PC(s), I don't give a sh*t about 50-200mb of ram used by FF.
Posted on Reply
#52
Ketxxx
Heedless Psychic
I've seen FF use 100MB here... IMO thats a HUGE chunk of memory just for a browser.
Posted on Reply
#53
Woah Mama!
Right now I'm at 61.8MB after 90minutes, single tab, 5 add-ons and the Nasa night launch theme.
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#54
Steevo
If anyone here actually understands what a memory leak is, go jump in a pool.



A memory leak is a pool of resources that will never be released, or have control transfered back to the kernel of the OS.


For example, after awhile of playing one of the CIV games, a older one, under Windows 98 and after quitting the application memory that should have been free for other applications was marked as in use, due to files and cache still being loaded.


But Cache that is still in use, such as recently visited webpages or downloads is not a memory leak, it is just bad programming, or a bad interface between what the program marks as active set and what the OS keeps in page for physical RAM.
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#55
OnBoard
Wile EProbably don't even need that much. Default is 64MB. I set mine to 32MB.
Isn't default unlimited? That's why you need to add the integer value there. I've added 64MB once and now altered it to your 32MB, maybe it helps a bit :)
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#56
Wile E
Power User
OnBoardIsn't default unlimited? That's why you need to add the integer value there. I've added 64MB once and now altered it to your 32MB, maybe it helps a bit :)
Nope, default is 64MB. That value should've been in yours, I don't know why it wasn't. Unless I'm mistaken, and it's added by one of my extensions. Never checked on a clean install. I'll have to do that next time.
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