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If you thought electron apps used a lot of memory, this thing will surprise you [0]: With WSL2, apps will now use either 50% or 8GB of your available memory.

If you thought electron apps used a lot of memory, this thing will surprise you [0]: With WSL2, apps will now use either 50% or 8GB of your available memory. Happy coding! [0]: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4166 https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4166

siproprio 5y ago
Also, looking forward for that new gvim 8GB memory footprint new feature!
- gfiorav 5y ago
  Are you sure? I watched the conference and this uses the RDP framework behind the scenes, integrating with Wayland. Why would it consume much more than running natively?
  - TingPing 5y ago
    Its not the gui part, its just a full VM.
    - gfiorav 5y ago
      Oh, I use WSL2 every day and that's not true. I uses dynamic memory and shares with the host. No blocked off 8GB or RAM or anything like that.
NicoJuicy 5y ago
It's not exactly wsl is it? Linux considers free memory useless and uses it as cache. https://www.linuxatemyram.com/ https://www.linuxatemyram.com/ Weird that i didn't knew this. Couple of years ago i wasted some time to get more "free" memory on my server. Lol
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  Except that the cache needs to be intelligently shared or split between operating systems, and it's not. Or at least not well, as of 20H2.
- Ajedi32 5y ago
  That's not really an issue under normal usage; unused memory _is_ useless. The problem is that in this case Linux has to share memory with another OS.
whywhywhywhy 5y ago
Maybe it's what it's doing for me but I run it for days at a time and it's only taking 2GB.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
donkarma 5y ago
wsl2 is such a downgrade from wsl1
- kuroguro 5y ago
  +1 If I wanted a VM, I would run a VM. Looks like this is WSL2 only :/
  - bitwize 5y ago
    If you want a GUI in WSL1, VcXsrv still works.
    - dxxvi 5y ago
      It's not perfect: I run IntelliJ in Arch WSL1 and 1) it crashes every time it opens a .md file athough I have (LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1). I have to put -Dsun.java2d.opengl=false -Dsun.java2d.d3d=false in idea64.vmoptions and disable the markdown plugin (maybe only 1 of them is enough) 2) In Windows, IntelliJ automatically saves files when it loses focus. I have to remember to Ctrl-S all the times with IntelliJ in WSL1 3) IntelliJ can't detect where there's a change in the file system. I have to Reload All from Disk all the times.
- xbar 5y ago
  First I've heard this. I've used neither. What is the major harm of WSL2?
  - josalhor 5y ago
    At least for me, WSL1 had pretty good performance on the Windows file system. On WSL2 accessing the Windows file system is pretty slow. You can read about it here: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4197 https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4197
    - TingPing 5y ago
      But compute in general performs better and all non-windows io is way faster.
2ion 5y ago
PS C:\Users\2ion> cat .\.wslconfig [wsl2] memory=6G processors=4 These settings are being respected, as far as I can tell. Since when is it not common sense to assign a reasonable amount to a VM? The only thing that does not seem to work well at the moment is a "memory balloon" RAM allocation scheme. WSL2 is a VM, not a shared memory container. They could do better, but RAM is pretty cheap nowadays and WSLg is IMO the much more productive feature. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#configure-global-options-with-wslconfig https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#conf....
- HideousKojima 5y ago
  A single (idle) SQL Server Docker container shouldn't be using 5 GB of ram
  - piaste 5y ago
    SQL Server by design grabs as much RAM as it can, as aggressively and preemptively as it can, because it assumes it's the most important process running on the machine. Which is almost always the case in production environments, and a reasonable default behaviour as a result. If that's not the case, you can easily set resource limits at the application, container, and/or VM level. (This comment coming from someone who used to have to support running small backup MSSQL instances on Windows 8 tablets.)
    - skeletonjelly 5y ago
      Yep this. SQL Server using RAM is by design. If it's using too much because you're using it for dev work then you can simply limit the amount it can access. RAM is there to be used!
      - MereInterest 5y ago
        It's a perfectly fine design so long as there's one, and only one, program that is maximizing its RAM usage. When you have many programs (e.g. the browser, Teams, slack, every single electron app), then you get loads of contention.
ROARosen 5y ago
Did you try setting a RAM limit in .wslconfig ? https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#configure-global-options-with-wslconfig https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#conf...
HideousKojima 5y ago
That's been going on for a few months already, I have a single Docker image running in WSL2 running SQL Server and it's using 5 GB of memory while idle.
segmondy 5y ago
I'm curious why the parent comment doesn't have an upvote or downvote button.
- sangnoir 5y ago
  It was probably in a cool-off period. HN has a bunch of anti-flamewar features that temporarily discourage voting under specific circumstances.
1_player 5y ago
PS C:\Users\1_player> cat .\.wslconfig [wsl2] memory=32GB Eh, who cares.
- siproprio 5y ago
  I'll gladly accept your machine as a gift to me! Btw, notebooks have soldiered ram.
  - danieldk 5y ago
    Not all notebooks. I updated my ThinkPad from 16GB to 32GB RAM.
lunfard00 5y ago
Maybe unrelated but I think it is a Hyper-v (w10) issue, not a WSL one. At least same thing happened to me some days ago on one VM running on Hyper-v, it went crazy and consume all my 32gb of ram. It seems to be fixed after reducing the number of cores available to it.
dleslie 5y ago
At least the WSL apps share resources.

siproprio 5y ago

Also, looking forward for that new gvim 8GB memory footprint new feature!

gfiorav 5y ago
Are you sure? I watched the conference and this uses the RDP framework behind the scenes, integrating with Wayland. Why would it consume much more than running natively?
- TingPing 5y ago
  Its not the gui part, its just a full VM.
  - gfiorav 5y ago
    Oh, I use WSL2 every day and that's not true. I uses dynamic memory and shares with the host. No blocked off 8GB or RAM or anything like that.

NicoJuicy 5y ago

It's not exactly wsl is it? Linux considers free memory useless and uses it as cache. https://www.linuxatemyram.com/ https://www.linuxatemyram.com/ Weird that i didn't knew this. Couple of years ago i wasted some time to get more "free" memory on my server. Lol

Dylan16807 5y ago
Except that the cache needs to be intelligently shared or split between operating systems, and it's not. Or at least not well, as of 20H2.
Ajedi32 5y ago
That's not really an issue under normal usage; unused memory _is_ useless. The problem is that in this case Linux has to share memory with another OS.

whywhywhywhy 5y ago

Maybe it's what it's doing for me but I run it for days at a time and it's only taking 2GB.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

donkarma 5y ago

wsl2 is such a downgrade from wsl1

kuroguro 5y ago
+1 If I wanted a VM, I would run a VM. Looks like this is WSL2 only :/
- bitwize 5y ago
  If you want a GUI in WSL1, VcXsrv still works.
  - dxxvi 5y ago
    It's not perfect: I run IntelliJ in Arch WSL1 and 1) it crashes every time it opens a .md file athough I have (LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1). I have to put -Dsun.java2d.opengl=false -Dsun.java2d.d3d=false in idea64.vmoptions and disable the markdown plugin (maybe only 1 of them is enough) 2) In Windows, IntelliJ automatically saves files when it loses focus. I have to remember to Ctrl-S all the times with IntelliJ in WSL1 3) IntelliJ can't detect where there's a change in the file system. I have to Reload All from Disk all the times.
xbar 5y ago
First I've heard this. I've used neither. What is the major harm of WSL2?
- josalhor 5y ago
  At least for me, WSL1 had pretty good performance on the Windows file system. On WSL2 accessing the Windows file system is pretty slow. You can read about it here: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4197 https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4197
  - TingPing 5y ago
    But compute in general performs better and all non-windows io is way faster.

2ion 5y ago

PS C:\Users\2ion> cat .\.wslconfig [wsl2] memory=6G processors=4 These settings are being respected, as far as I can tell. Since when is it not common sense to assign a reasonable amount to a VM? The only thing that does not seem to work well at the moment is a "memory balloon" RAM allocation scheme. WSL2 is a VM, not a shared memory container. They could do better, but RAM is pretty cheap nowadays and WSLg is IMO the much more productive feature. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#configure-global-options-with-wslconfig https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#conf....

HideousKojima 5y ago
A single (idle) SQL Server Docker container shouldn't be using 5 GB of ram
- piaste 5y ago
  SQL Server by design grabs as much RAM as it can, as aggressively and preemptively as it can, because it assumes it's the most important process running on the machine. Which is almost always the case in production environments, and a reasonable default behaviour as a result. If that's not the case, you can easily set resource limits at the application, container, and/or VM level. (This comment coming from someone who used to have to support running small backup MSSQL instances on Windows 8 tablets.)
  - skeletonjelly 5y ago
    Yep this. SQL Server using RAM is by design. If it's using too much because you're using it for dev work then you can simply limit the amount it can access. RAM is there to be used!
    - MereInterest 5y ago
      It's a perfectly fine design so long as there's one, and only one, program that is maximizing its RAM usage. When you have many programs (e.g. the browser, Teams, slack, every single electron app), then you get loads of contention.

ROARosen 5y ago

Did you try setting a RAM limit in .wslconfig ? https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#configure-global-options-with-wslconfig https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#conf...

HideousKojima 5y ago

That's been going on for a few months already, I have a single Docker image running in WSL2 running SQL Server and it's using 5 GB of memory while idle.

segmondy 5y ago

I'm curious why the parent comment doesn't have an upvote or downvote button.

sangnoir 5y ago
It was probably in a cool-off period. HN has a bunch of anti-flamewar features that temporarily discourage voting under specific circumstances.

1_player 5y ago

PS C:\Users\1_player> cat .\.wslconfig [wsl2] memory=32GB Eh, who cares.

siproprio 5y ago
I'll gladly accept your machine as a gift to me! Btw, notebooks have soldiered ram.
- danieldk 5y ago
  Not all notebooks. I updated my ThinkPad from 16GB to 32GB RAM.

lunfard00 5y ago

Maybe unrelated but I think it is a Hyper-v (w10) issue, not a WSL one. At least same thing happened to me some days ago on one VM running on Hyper-v, it went crazy and consume all my 32gb of ram. It seems to be fixed after reducing the number of cores available to it.

dleslie 5y ago

At least the WSL apps share resources.