Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

What's a memory leak

3bs

3bs

macrumors 603
Original poster
May 20, 2011
5,434
24
Dublin, Ireland
I keep hearing about it and people are saying that all the current Galaxy S3 JB ROMs have them until Samsung releases some code regarding drivers or kernels or something. And I read that the only temporary fix is a reboot when the phone starts feeling sluggish which I think I'm starting to notice since I flashed the Paranoid Android ROM.

I'm not sure if this is just on the AOSP JB ROMs or the Samsung based ROMs too.

I'd ask on xda but they're not as friendly as you guys here :p
 
kdarling

kdarling

macrumors P6
Jun 9, 2007
17,373
5,924
First university coding class = 47 years ago
A memory leak is a situation where memory is used but not given back when it's no longer needed. The nickname comes from the visual of a bucket of water (available memory) with a tiny hole in the bottom.

It can happen when an app (or the OS) allocates some memory for a temporary task and then never gives it back when it should. Another way is if the app keeps asking for more than it should.

Example: an email app. Let's say it allocates a memory buffer to read attached pictures into and is supposed to give that memory buffer back when it's done. But a dumb coding mistake allows it to skip around the giving-back part if the user never looked at the picture. That code bug creates a memory leak, and it gets bigger every time a photo comes in.

Over time, the system runs out of available free memory, because it's all mistakenly used up (leaked away). The easiest fix is to reboot, which resets memory usage (fills the bucket back to the top).

As for the S3 ROMs, I do not know enough about them to say. Apparently some claim to have fixes.
 
3bs

3bs

macrumors 603
Original poster
May 20, 2011
5,434
24
Dublin, Ireland
kdarling said:
A memory leak is a situation where memory is used but not given back when it's no longer needed. The nickname comes from the visual of a bucket of water (available memory) with a tiny hole in the bottom.

It can happen when an app (or the OS) allocates some memory for a temporary task and then never gives it back when it should. Another way is if the app keeps asking for more than it should.

Example: an email app. Let's say it allocates a memory buffer to read attached pictures into and is supposed to give that memory buffer back when it's done. But a dumb coding mistake allows it to skip around the giving-back part if the user never looked at the picture. That code bug creates a memory leak, and it gets bigger every time a photo comes in.

Over time, the system runs out of available free memory, because it's all mistakenly used up (leaked away). The easiest fix is to reboot, which resets memory usage (fills the bucket back to the top).

As for the S3 ROMs, I do not know enough about them to say. Apparently some claim to have fixes.
Click to expand...

I thought it was something like that. Thanks for clarifying.

Do you have an S3 yourself? I've read on the CM10 (JB ROM) xda thread that the developers that are coding it say that there's no fix and we'll have to wait. I'd love to know if it's possible and how to fix it. I went back to CM9 (ICS ROM) because it's running smoother.
 
Orange Furball

Orange Furball

macrumors 65816
May 18, 2012
1,325
6
Scranton, PA, USA
3bs said:
I thought it was something like that. Thanks for clarifying.

Do you have an S3 yourself? I've read on the CM10 (JB ROM) xda thread that the developers that are coding it say that there's no fix and we'll have to wait. I'd love to know if it's possible and how to fix it. I went back to CM9 (ICS ROM) because it's running smoother.
Click to expand...

I'm on a Note CM10 and we have memory leaks too. There is no cure until Samsung releases the source (once they officially leak JB) and then the developers will code CM10 with no memory leaks. Its all a waiting game
 
3bs

3bs

macrumors 603
Original poster
May 20, 2011
5,434
24
Dublin, Ireland
Orange Furball said:
I'm on a Note CM10 and we have memory leaks too. There is no cure until Samsung releases the source (once they officially leak JB) and then the developers will code CM10 with no memory leaks. Its all a waiting game
Click to expand...

I haven't tried CM10 yet but I think I'm gonna flash it now. As much as I liked the JB features on Paranoid Android I just didn't want to be rebooting so often. How often do you feel you need to reboot?
 
M

matttye

macrumors 601
Mar 25, 2009
4,957
32
Lincoln, England
I'm running the LI7 Samsung Jelly Bean ROM and haven't noticed any problems. I've only seen people talking about memory leaks on the AOSP ones on XDA.
 
M

Mrg02d

macrumors 65816
Jan 27, 2012
1,102
2
This is the first I have heard of this. Ive never seen my available memory go below 1gb, and thats on a memory hungry twiz rom.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom