Risc (and vax?) Xserver problems (Xcfb, 3.1/2.1)

[Hurf Sheldon]

  We seem to have determined that the Xcfb server present on all
the workstations (at least that's the name on the mips - not sure what it
is on the VAXen) is having trouble releasing memory after applications
exit.  Specifically, we found the following:
  1) applications that DEFINITELY cause the Xcfb server to grow when first
     run, and then seem not to release their memory once they have exited
     (thus leaving the server increasingly large and increasingly bothersome
      with frequent memory swaps):
     awm
     xsetroot
     xfroot
     xman
     dxpaint
     dxterm
  2) applications which occasionally cause the server to grow
     xterm
     dxue
     
  We noted that manually killing the X server 
   solves the memory problem, but it begins to grow again
   as soon as any of the above are run.

  Sounds like a bug in the X server's free memory routine, rather than one
  which applies to ALL of these applications.  Several
  applications (xemacs, dxwm, etc.) don't cause the server to grow in size
  at all, so it seems that once the X server allocates extra memory as a
  result of a request by an application, that memory never gets returned.
 
  Is this the cause of all the 'server not responding' messages?
  How do we fix it?  

  ----------
  Hurf


-- 
     Hurf Sheldon			 Network: hurf at ionvax.tn.cornell.edu
     Lab of Plasma Studies		  Bitnet: hurf at CRNLION
     369 Upson Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853  ph:607 255 7267
     "And the walls came tumbling down"