Question

6

Need application/script alerting when system memory is running out

rated 0 times [ 6] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 7201 / 2 Years ago, thu, november 18, 2021, 3:59:25

I don't won't to use swap file (due to some bug in kernel or AMD driver).

I wan't to have some util running and monitoring free system memory and alerting me when it becomes less than some specified limit.

This will notify me that I need to close some applications (or browser tabs) to avoid system freeze due to some strange kswapd0 I/O activity (probably another bug).

Is there any appropriate software?

UPDATE:

I've redesigned script provided by Gary for my need and want to share it

#!/bin/bash



#Minimum available memory limit, MB

THRESHOLD=400



#Check time interval, sec

INTERVAL=30



while :

do



    free=$(free -m|awk '/^Mem:/{print $4}')

    buffers=$(free -m|awk '/^Mem:/{print $6}')

    cached=$(free -m|awk '/^Mem:/{print $7}')

    available=$(free -m | awk '/^-/+/{print $4}')



    message="Free $free""MB"", buffers $buffers""MB"", cached $cached""MB"", available $available""MB"""



    if [ $available -lt $THRESHOLD ]

        then

        notify-send "Memory is running out!" "$message"

    fi



    echo $message



    sleep $INTERVAL



done

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

istmasted

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 287

Total Questions: 130

Total Answers: 153

Location: Burkina Faso

Member since Thu, Dec 23, 2021

2 Years ago

istmasted questions

1 Is it possible to hide the workspaces thumbnails in the application launcher?

Sat, May 28, 22, 17:36, 2 Years ago

1 How do I make a Markdown table of two columns out of a list whose items alternate to each column?

Sat, Dec 24, 22, 17:24, 1 Year ago

1 Bash script file extension

Sat, Jun 19, 21, 16:54, 3 Years ago

1 I'm trying to understand these partitions

Tue, Mar 1, 22, 22:36, 2 Years ago

1 Internet stops working after installing ProtonVPN

Mon, Jan 31, 22, 22:55, 2 Years ago

View All

answered 2 Years ago ickump · Accepted Answer

You could try using free.

free -s n will update the output every n seconds. Wrap that in an if for whatever threshold you feel is "too much memory" being used, and display a message when it reaches that point.

EDIT: Here's the script I came up with. Rough, but it works.

#Checks for low memory.



#!/bin/bash



#cutoff_frac is basically how much used memory can be at in terms of how much

#total memory you have...2 is 1/2 of 100% or an alert when you're using 50% mem, etc.

cutoff_frac=2



total_mem=$(free|awk '/^Mem:/{print $2}')

let "threshold = $total_mem / $cutoff_frac"



while :

do



    free_mem=$(free|awk '/^Mem:/{print $4}')



    if [ $free_mem -lt $threshold ]

        then

        notify-send "Low memory!!"

    fi



    sleep 5



done



exit