console-kit-daemon is a massive memory hog in 64-bit CentOS 6.0

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rklrkl
Posts: 75
Joined: 2005/10/22 22:06:04
Location: U.K.

console-kit-daemon is a massive memory hog in 64-bit CentOS

Post by rklrkl » 2011/08/19 14:51:29

I noticed recently that console-kit-daemon (part of the ConsoleKit package) is a massive memory hog in 64-bit CentOS 6.0. It has a virtual size of around 560MB at startup and uses enough memory over time to exceed 1GB after a few days. It is a known issue that was reported years ago upstream here:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=473547

Fixed in Fedora 14 briefly (too late for CentOS 6.0) and broken again in late Fedora 14 versions and all Fedora 15 versions apparently!

I've added a comment about this issue and how it happens on 64-bit CentOS 6.0 - I've also posted up the workaround (basically comment out the appropriate dbus config file). Anyone else seen this on 64-bit CentOS 6.0? Use "top" and sort by virtual memory usage (press "<" 4 times and look in the VIRT column) - you'll soon see console-kit-daemon probably using more virtual memory than anything else on your system!

As I said in the upstream comment, I've no idea what functionality console-kit-daemon provides on desktops (probably nothing at all for servers I bet) and what goes wrong if you stop running it. Anyone got a clue about this?

h_fat
Posts: 48
Joined: 2007/04/13 17:23:48

Re: console-kit-daemon is a massive memory hog in 64-bit CentOS 6.0

Post by h_fat » 2011/08/19 15:38:47

Well, I don't run it on servers. My servers have no GUI.

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