Bug#370219: apt: Dependency tree building thrashes small machines
I'm able to run X, blackbox, and dillo with mem=8M, but apt-get brings
the machine to its knees, though I don't use the stock kernel which
loads modules via initrd, nor services weightier than inetd or getty.
apt-get's only problem is the "building dependency tree" activity.
Otherwise it works fine. If it's possible to rethink the dependency
tree algorithm to use less memory so that the minimal specs which
support Debian do not continue to grow as a function of the number of
available packages, I think that would prove important.
Besides actually *apt-getting* packages, Debian is eminently usable on
old/restricted hardware. And regardless of the distribution, apt-get's
other strengths definitely make it my preferred package management
tool, if the dependency tree doesn't get in the way.
On Fri, Jun 09, at 04:32PM(+0200), Michael Vogt wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 04, 2006 at 03:53:38AM -0400, Vermont wrote:
> > Package: apt
> > Version: 0.6.44.1
> > Severity: important
> >
> > On a machine with 8MB of RAM and 128MB of swap, apt-get is virtually
> > unusable - the building of the dependency tree causes incredible
> > amounts of swap thrash. It takes apt-get about an hour to finish, if
> > the out of memory killer doesn't get to it first.
> >
> > Reproducible by booting linux with mem=8M.
>
> My system (debian/sid with linux 2.6.16-2-k7) does not even boot with
> mem=8M. I get loads of "Out of Memory" errors on startup when booting
> into single-user-mode. I'm sorry, but this is not really "Severity:
> important". It seems like mem=24M was the smalltest that booted for me
> and apt is pretty usable then.
>
> Cheers,
> Michael
>
> --
> Linux is not The Answer. Yes is the answer. Linux is The Question. - Neo
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