Hendrik Boom - 19.07.24, 15:35:45 CEST:
> oom is a kid with a bazooka whether it is part of systemd or not.
>
> Are there methods for configuring it? Such as indicating ahead of time
> which programs are likely candidates for killing?
> Can it be activated just before running out of memory so it can
> get enough memory for its own processins?

Yes, there are various ways to influence it.

At least: /proc/sys/vm/overcommit_memory*, oom_score_adj, memory control
groups.

For my Linux performance analysis and tuning courses I thought of various
ways to configure it in a way that it won't kill a process ever. I.e. to
basically disable it but still have Linux start all the applications I
like to run. I tried one once on a 16 GiB machine. It did not work out.
Maybe I try again with my new laptop. With 32 GiB and lots of swap –
unused swap except for hibernation to disk – it could work. And you can
prioritize processes one way or another with oom_score_adj and/or memory
control groups.

No time at the moment to elaborate more. Maybe at a later time.

Best,
--
Martin