Bug 151148

Summary: Dysfunctional applications consume all the system memory, system freezes.
Product: [Developer tools] buildsystem Reporter: Nikos Papadopoulos <231036448>
Component: KDE3 (autotools)Assignee: Stephan Kulow <coolo>
Status: RESOLVED NOT A BUG    
Severity: crash    
Priority: NOR    
Version: unspecified   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Mandriva RPMs   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Nikos Papadopoulos 2007-10-21 16:53:21 UTC 
Version:            (using KDE KDE 3.5.7)
Installed from:    Mandriva RPMs
OS:                Linux

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.

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 "bugzilla.kernel.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.
Comment 1 Nikos Papadopoulos 2007-10-21 16:57:20 UTC 
See also:
http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9202
Comment 2 Pino Toscano 2007-10-21 16:58:15 UTC 
The KDE bug tracking system is not an user forum.
Please contact the user support of your distribution.
Comment 3 Nikos Papadopoulos 2007-10-21 17:03:20 UTC 
quote:
"The KDE bug tracking system is not an user forum."

?????, what?

I reported this both to kde and kernel,
because, since I am not a programmer,
i don't know if this is a kde or a kernel bug.

I didn't ask for some sort of user's support...
Comment 4 Maksim Orlovich 2007-10-21 17:12:18 UTC 
None of the applications you reported problems with are KDE applications.
Comment 5 Nikos Papadopoulos 2007-10-21 19:16:42 UTC 
I wonder if you read what I have written.

It's not about the applications.
***IT'S ABOUT THE SYSTEM.***

Applications shouldn't be allowed to freeze the system.
It's both a stability and a security issue.

Thing what could happen if you were in a middle of an upgrade,
Or if any virus could so easily "take over" all the system resources.