How do I get the "purge" command?

[RedCroissant]

Hello all.

I am using my 900 MHz iBook G3 now and installed 10.4.11 along with the Xcode tools thinking that I would then be able to purge the system with Terminal.

After the installation though, Terminal still outputs "command not found"

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Intell]

Why would you want to use the purge command? It dumps the disk cache resulting in an overall slowdown of applications and some stuttering. Especially on a slow G3-era laptop hard drive.

 

[RedCroissant]

Why would you want to use the purge command? It dumps the disk cache resulting in an overall slowdown of applications and some stuttering. Especially on a slow G3-era laptop hard drive.

I like the purge command because sometimes I'm running stuff that uses more memory than I expect and this way I can at least free up inactive memory when I'm truly finished with an application.

And I know it does that during the purge process, but that doesn't bother me as long as I can free up memory.

 

[eyoungren]

You have to install the Developer tools.

 

[ifrit05]

And I know it does that during the purge process, but that doesn't bother me as long as I can free up memory.

Freeing up memory like that is almost always a bad idea. I remember "memory purger" apps for Windows were all the rage a couple of years back.
OS X has very advanced memory optimizations, there's no need to be purging memory on a whim, it can cause even more slowdowns.

You have to install the Developer tools.

He stated he had already installed Xcode tools.

 

[eyoungren]

He stated he had already installed Xcode tools.

Yes, he did. But if you read the post I linked to you will see that the author makes a distinction between Xcode and the Developer tools.

I provided the link in case there was any steps he missed.

Freeing up memory like that is almost always a bad idea. I remember "memory purger" apps for Windows were all the rage a couple of years back.
OS X has very advanced memory optimizations, there's no need to be purging memory on a whim, it can cause even more slowdowns.

I have to disagree with you here.

The Purge command has allowed me to recover a respectable amount of RAM on a system with either limited RAM or a compromised external cache. I agree that OS X has good memory optimizations, but it will happily allow you to run out of RAM and lock up your system when using memory intensive apps.

Sometimes, quitting those apps to recover ram or rein in a process (such as TenFourFox gobbling ram) is not desired or an option. Forcing that ram to recover via the purge command is a useful alternative. There are downsides as Intell has mentioned, but you can either take the hit sometimes and suffer through some reduced speed to keep an app running or quit in the middle of something, or face a lockup.

Personally, as an example, if I'm low on ram, I'd rather take the slowdown hit in TenFourFox over restarting the damn thing and having to log back in to sites I'm already logged in to. T4FX is great, but it takes forever to load.

 

[RedCroissant]

You have to install the Developer tools.

Thanks, E!

I for some reason thought that the Xcode tools mpkg included the proper developer tools as well. So, I was obviously wrong and for some reason the developer tools on my dvd did not properly install, so I had to download XCode tools (with the updated developer tools) from Apples developer site. Luckily, I can easily access my router and an ethernet cable so my download of the almost 1GB .dmg only took about 9 minutes. That = Awesome.

I now installed XCode and the Developer tools for Tiger and can now use the purge command and it is a beautiful thing.

Freeing up memory like that is almost always a bad idea. I remember "memory purger" apps for Windows were all the rage a couple of years back.
OS X has very advanced memory optimizations, there's no need to be purging memory on a whim, it can cause even more slowdowns.

He stated he had already installed Xcode tools.

I know the general thinking is that purging inactive memory is a bad thing especially since it temporarily slows down the system, but I need it especially when running more than one "more modern" app on my G3.

Now If I could set it up so OS X doesn't manage memory like that on an individual app basis that I could determine, then that would be perfect. If it were up to me for my uses, I wouldn't store anything and have the memory released as soon as the app quits.

 

[Hughmac]

I sometimes use iFreeMem http://www.activata.co.uk/ifreemem/ when the need arises.
I suppose it is similar to using the purge command?

Cheers

Hugh

 

[eyoungren]

I sometimes use iFreeMem http://www.activata.co.uk/ifreemem/ when the need arises.
I suppose it is similar to using the purge command?

Cheers

Hugh

Somewhat. It doesn't free as much ram though.

You might try a comparison using either Menu Meters or iStat Menus to see the difference you get between the two.