[Bugme-new] [Bug 9202] New: Dysfunctional applications consume all the system memory, system freezes.

[bugme-daemon at bugzilla.kernel.org]

http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9202

           Summary: Dysfunctional applications consume all the system
                    memory, system freezes.
           Product: Memory Management
           Version: 2.5
     KernelVersion: 2.6.22.9-desktop-1mdv
          Platform: All
        OS/Version: Linux
              Tree: Mainline
            Status: NEW
          Severity: high
          Priority: P1
         Component: Other
        AssignedTo: akpm at osdl.org
        ReportedBy: 231036448 at freemail.gr


Most recent kernel where this bug did not occur: 
it occurs from 2.6.21 (at least) untill 2.6.22.9
Distribution: mandriva 2007.1 -2008.0
Hardware Environment: 384mb of RAM (2 different types)+ almost the same swap
memory
Software Environment: kde 3.5.6 - 3.5.7
Problem Description: Dysfunctional applications consume all the system memory
(RAM and swap), system freezes. Probably related to Bug 5029
Steps to reproduce: 
A - Install latest openoffice (all dictionaries should be included and enabled
by default, 20 or more of them, see "dictionary.lst" in
"/usr/lib/ooo-2.2/share/dict/ooo"). Enable "Spellchecking while typing" and
"Spellchecking in all languages". Open an openoffice document, and type more
than 4 random characters.
B - It also occurs with the following combination: 
Firefox, some dysfunctional extensions, some dysfunctional java webpages (none
of which is rare).

Since I am only a user, I reported this to "bugs.kde.org", as well, under the
same name.


My question:
Why is an application allowed to do that?
Shouldn't there be some sort of "fuse" or threshold?
Sorry for having to make the comparison, but I never had such a problem with
Microsoft Windows.
And this is probably the only (but unfortunately frequent) instability, that I
have met in linux.


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