[Bug 977319] [NEW] Swappiness not optimal for desktops

[Svein Tore Seljebotn]

Public bug reported:

(Not sure what package to file this in, if it's wrong I apologize)

I recently doubled the amount of RAM in my laptop from 1GB to 2GB. While
noticing a significant improvement, I still got bad response time in
many programs when multitasking.

A typical use case:

- Running Opera, Spotify and Inkscape (all somewhat cache and memory hungry).
- 1 GB RAM used
- ~250MB in swap

Inkscape would for instance respond to commands with a slight delay for
every action, even when drawing normal lines. Changing views in Spotify
could be slow. Changing programs took from 0 to 2 seconds.

Since both CPU and MEM usage was low, I investigated using iotop and
noticed high io usage everytime there was a delay. I looked up swap
usage on the net and got introduced to swappiness. Changing it to 10 and
running swapoff and swapon changed everything drastically. The delay
when switching programs is gone. The delay in Inkscape actions and
Spotify are gone. Overall the system feels MUCH more responsive.

To me having a system starting to swap when I have 1GB of available
memory (half of my ram) is unreasonable. I can see the point of
reserving a lot of space for heavy operations, like compiling etc, but
these are not day to day tasks for most users and delays when swapping
out is to be expected.

This is anecdotal evidence, but a search on the net shows quite a lot of
similar cases with similar results.

What is the rationale for keeping it at 60 for desktops? It certainly
does not work for me on 2GB of ram and I can only see it making even
less sense for more RAM as is common nowadays.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: ubuntu-desktop 1.264
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-19.30-generic 3.2.11
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-19-generic i686
ApportVersion: 1.95-0ubuntu1
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon Apr  9 18:08:10 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release i386 (20110427.1)
SourcePackage: ubuntu-meta
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-01-21 (79 days ago)

** Affects: ubuntu-meta (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: apport-bug i386 precise

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/977319

Title:
  Swappiness not optimal for desktops

Status in “ubuntu-meta” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  (Not sure what package to file this in, if it's wrong I apologize)

  I recently doubled the amount of RAM in my laptop from 1GB to 2GB.
  While noticing a significant improvement, I still got bad response
  time in many programs when multitasking.

  A typical use case:

  - Running Opera, Spotify and Inkscape (all somewhat cache and memory hungry).
  - 1 GB RAM used
  - ~250MB in swap

  Inkscape would for instance respond to commands with a slight delay
  for every action, even when drawing normal lines. Changing views in
  Spotify could be slow. Changing programs took from 0 to 2 seconds.

  Since both CPU and MEM usage was low, I investigated using iotop and
  noticed high io usage everytime there was a delay. I looked up swap
  usage on the net and got introduced to swappiness. Changing it to 10
  and running swapoff and swapon changed everything drastically. The
  delay when switching programs is gone. The delay in Inkscape actions
  and Spotify are gone. Overall the system feels MUCH more responsive.

  To me having a system starting to swap when I have 1GB of available
  memory (half of my ram) is unreasonable. I can see the point of
  reserving a lot of space for heavy operations, like compiling etc, but
  these are not day to day tasks for most users and delays when swapping
  out is to be expected.

  This is anecdotal evidence, but a search on the net shows quite a lot
  of similar cases with similar results.

  What is the rationale for keeping it at 60 for desktops? It certainly
  does not work for me on 2GB of ram and I can only see it making even
  less sense for more RAM as is common nowadays.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
  Package: ubuntu-desktop 1.264
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-19.30-generic 3.2.11
  Uname: Linux 3.2.0-19-generic i686
  ApportVersion: 1.95-0ubuntu1
  Architecture: i386
  Date: Mon Apr  9 18:08:10 2012
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release i386 (20110427.1)
  SourcePackage: ubuntu-meta
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-01-21 (79 days ago)

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