Debian Bug report logs - #914918
gnome-shell uses huge amount of memory

version graph

Package: gnome-shell; Maintainer for gnome-shell is Debian GNOME Maintainers <pkg-gnome-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>; Source for gnome-shell is src:gnome-shell (PTS, buildd, popcon).

Reported by: Eduardo Barros <geadas@gmail.com>

Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2018 16:39:02 UTC

Severity: normal

Found in version gnome-shell/3.30.1-2

Done: Jeremy Bícha <jbicha@debian.org>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

View this report as an mbox folder, status mbox, maintainer mbox


Report forwarded to debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org, geadas@gmail.com, Debian GNOME Maintainers <pkg-gnome-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>:
Bug#914918; Package gnome-shell. (Wed, 28 Nov 2018 16:39:04 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).


Acknowledgement sent to Eduardo Barros <geadas@gmail.com>:
New Bug report received and forwarded. Copy sent to geadas@gmail.com, Debian GNOME Maintainers <pkg-gnome-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>. (Wed, 28 Nov 2018 16:39:04 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).


Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Eduardo Barros <geadas@gmail.com>
To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>
Subject: gnome-shell uses huge amount of memory
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2018 16:35:32 +0000
Package: gnome-shell
Version: 3.30.1-2
Severity: normal

Dear Maintainer,

*** Reporter, please consider answering these questions, where appropriate ***

   * What led up to the situation?
   * What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
     ineffective)?
   * What was the outcome of this action?
   * What outcome did you expect instead?

*** End of the template - remove these template lines ***

Hello.
I'm on testing and everything up to date.
When i start my machine gnome-shell starts at 200~MB. After some hours it is
over 1GB and after several days it is using more than 20GB. This goes on until
the moment the system starts to use the swap and becomes sluggish. At this
point i opt to reboot it.
I'm on wayland with multiple monitors, dual ati gpu and 4 monitors.
I see there is a new version on unstable 3.30.2-1 and wiling to see it migrated
to testing.
Thank you!



-- System Information:
Debian Release: buster/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 4.18.0-2-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=pt_PT.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=pt_PT.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=pt:pt_BR:en (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages gnome-shell depends on:
ii  dconf-gsettings-backend [gsettings-backend]  0.30.1-1
ii  evolution-data-server                        3.30.2-2+b1
ii  gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0                   0.6.45-1
ii  gir1.2-atspi-2.0                             2.30.0-5
ii  gir1.2-freedesktop                           1.58.1-1
ii  gir1.2-gcr-3                                 3.28.0-1
ii  gir1.2-gdesktopenums-3.0                     3.28.1-1
ii  gir1.2-gdm-1.0                               3.30.1-1
ii  gir1.2-geoclue-2.0                           2.5.1-1
ii  gir1.2-glib-2.0                              1.58.1-1
ii  gir1.2-gnomebluetooth-1.0                    3.28.2-2
ii  gir1.2-gnomedesktop-3.0                      3.30.2-1
ii  gir1.2-gtk-3.0                               3.24.1-2
ii  gir1.2-gweather-3.0                          3.28.2-1
ii  gir1.2-ibus-1.0                              1.5.19-1
ii  gir1.2-mutter-3                              3.30.2-1
ii  gir1.2-nm-1.0                                1.14.4-3
ii  gir1.2-nma-1.0                               1.8.18-2
ii  gir1.2-pango-1.0                             1.42.4-4
ii  gir1.2-polkit-1.0                            0.105-21
ii  gir1.2-rsvg-2.0                              2.44.9-1
ii  gir1.2-soup-2.4                              2.64.1-3
ii  gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0                        0.99.9-1
ii  gjs                                          1.52.4-1
ii  gnome-backgrounds                            3.30.0-1
ii  gnome-settings-daemon                        3.30.1.2-1
ii  gnome-shell-common                           3.30.1-2
ii  gsettings-desktop-schemas                    3.28.1-1
ii  libatk-bridge2.0-0                           2.30.0-2
ii  libatk1.0-0                                  2.30.0-1
ii  libc6                                        2.27-8
ii  libcairo2                                    1.16.0-1
ii  libcanberra-gtk3-0                           0.30-6
ii  libcanberra0                                 0.30-6
ii  libcroco3                                    0.6.12-2
ii  libecal-1.2-19                               3.30.2-2+b1
ii  libedataserver-1.2-23                        3.30.2-2+b1
ii  libgcr-base-3-1                              3.28.0-1
ii  libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0                           2.38.0+dfsg-6
ii  libgirepository-1.0-1                        1.58.1-1
ii  libgjs0g                                     1.52.4-1
ii  libglib2.0-0                                 2.58.1-2
ii  libglib2.0-bin                               2.58.1-2
ii  libgstreamer1.0-0                            1.14.4-1
ii  libgtk-3-0                                   3.24.1-2
ii  libical3                                     3.0.4-1+b1
ii  libjson-glib-1.0-0                           1.4.4-1
ii  libmutter-3-0                                3.30.2-1
ii  libnm0                                       1.14.4-3
ii  libpango-1.0-0                               1.42.4-4
ii  libpangocairo-1.0-0                          1.42.4-4
ii  libpolkit-agent-1-0                          0.105-21
ii  libpolkit-gobject-1-0                        0.105-21
ii  libpulse-mainloop-glib0                      12.2-2
ii  libpulse0                                    12.2-2
ii  libsecret-1-0                                0.18.6-3
ii  libstartup-notification0                     0.12-5
ii  libsystemd0                                  239-13
ii  libx11-6                                     2:1.6.7-1
ii  libxfixes3                                   1:5.0.3-1
ii  mutter                                       3.30.2-1
ii  python3                                      3.6.7-1

Versions of packages gnome-shell recommends:
ii  bolt                  0.5-1
ii  chrome-gnome-shell    9-1
ii  gdm3                  3.30.1-1
ii  gkbd-capplet          3.26.0-4
ii  gnome-control-center  1:3.30.2-1
ii  gnome-user-docs       3.30.1-1
ii  iio-sensor-proxy      2.4-2
ii  switcheroo-control    1.2-1
ii  unzip                 6.0-21

Versions of packages gnome-shell suggests:
pn  gir1.2-telepathyglib-0.12   <none>
pn  gir1.2-telepathylogger-0.2  <none>

-- no debconf information



Information forwarded to debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org, geadas@gmail.com, Debian GNOME Maintainers <pkg-gnome-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>:
Bug#914918; Package gnome-shell. (Mon, 03 Dec 2018 12:21:04 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).


Acknowledgement sent to Eduardo Barros <geadas@gmail.com>:
Extra info received and forwarded to list. Copy sent to geadas@gmail.com, Debian GNOME Maintainers <pkg-gnome-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>. (Mon, 03 Dec 2018 12:21:04 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).


Message #10 received at 914918@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Eduardo Barros <geadas@gmail.com>
To: Debian Bug Tracking System <914918@bugs.debian.org>
Subject: Re: gnome-shell uses huge amount of memory
Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2018 12:17:25 +0000
Package: gnome-shell
Version: 3.30.1-2
Followup-For: Bug #914918

Dear Maintainer,

after filling the bug report i restarted my machine and after few hours gnome-
shell was using more than 1GB of memory. the next day more than 3GB.
after that i restarted gnome-shell and now with Xorg backend. to my surprise
since then gnome-shell is using a minimal amount of memory (265MB for an uptime
of 3 days). the same happened on another machine with distinct hardware.
it seems to be an issue with wayland or gnome-shell/wayland related.
if you need i can put one of those machines to test.
thank you.

*** Reporter, please consider answering these questions, where appropriate ***

   * What led up to the situation?
   * What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
     ineffective)?
   * What was the outcome of this action?
   * What outcome did you expect instead?

*** End of the template - remove these template lines ***



-- System Information:
Debian Release: buster/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 4.18.0-2-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=pt_PT.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=pt_PT.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=pt_PT.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages gnome-shell depends on:
ii  dconf-gsettings-backend [gsettings-backend]  0.30.1-1
ii  evolution-data-server                        3.30.2-2+b1
ii  gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0                   0.6.45-1
ii  gir1.2-atspi-2.0                             2.30.0-5
ii  gir1.2-freedesktop                           1.58.1-1
ii  gir1.2-gcr-3                                 3.28.0-1
ii  gir1.2-gdesktopenums-3.0                     3.28.1-1
ii  gir1.2-gdm-1.0                               3.30.1-1
ii  gir1.2-geoclue-2.0                           2.5.1-1
ii  gir1.2-glib-2.0                              1.58.1-1
ii  gir1.2-gnomebluetooth-1.0                    3.28.2-2
ii  gir1.2-gnomedesktop-3.0                      3.30.2-1
ii  gir1.2-gtk-3.0                               3.24.1-2
ii  gir1.2-gweather-3.0                          3.28.2-1
ii  gir1.2-ibus-1.0                              1.5.19-1
ii  gir1.2-mutter-3                              3.30.2-1
ii  gir1.2-nm-1.0                                1.14.4-4
ii  gir1.2-nma-1.0                               1.8.18-2
ii  gir1.2-pango-1.0                             1.42.4-4
ii  gir1.2-polkit-1.0                            0.105-22
ii  gir1.2-rsvg-2.0                              2.44.9-1
ii  gir1.2-soup-2.4                              2.64.1-3
ii  gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0                        0.99.9-2
ii  gjs                                          1.52.4-1
ii  gnome-backgrounds                            3.30.0-1
ii  gnome-settings-daemon                        3.30.1.2-1
ii  gnome-shell-common                           3.30.1-2
ii  gsettings-desktop-schemas                    3.28.1-1
ii  libatk-bridge2.0-0                           2.30.0-2
ii  libatk1.0-0                                  2.30.0-1
ii  libc6                                        2.27-8
ii  libcairo2                                    1.16.0-1
ii  libcanberra-gtk3-0                           0.30-6
ii  libcanberra0                                 0.30-6
ii  libcroco3                                    0.6.12-2
ii  libecal-1.2-19                               3.30.2-2+b1
ii  libedataserver-1.2-23                        3.30.2-2+b1
ii  libgcr-base-3-1                              3.28.0-1
ii  libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0                           2.38.0+dfsg-6
ii  libgirepository-1.0-1                        1.58.1-1
ii  libgjs0g                                     1.52.4-1
ii  libglib2.0-0                                 2.58.1-2
ii  libglib2.0-bin                               2.58.1-2
ii  libgstreamer1.0-0                            1.14.4-1
ii  libgtk-3-0                                   3.24.1-2
ii  libical3                                     3.0.4-1+b1
ii  libjson-glib-1.0-0                           1.4.4-1
ii  libmutter-3-0                                3.30.2-1
ii  libnm0                                       1.14.4-4
ii  libpango-1.0-0                               1.42.4-4
ii  libpangocairo-1.0-0                          1.42.4-4
ii  libpolkit-agent-1-0                          0.105-22
ii  libpolkit-gobject-1-0                        0.105-22
ii  libpulse-mainloop-glib0                      12.2-2
ii  libpulse0                                    12.2-2
ii  libsecret-1-0                                0.18.6-3
ii  libstartup-notification0                     0.12-5
ii  libsystemd0                                  239-13
ii  libx11-6                                     2:1.6.7-1
ii  libxfixes3                                   1:5.0.3-1
ii  mutter                                       3.30.2-1
ii  python3                                      3.6.7-1

Versions of packages gnome-shell recommends:
ii  bolt                  0.5-1
ii  chrome-gnome-shell    9-1
ii  gdm3                  3.30.1-1
ii  gkbd-capplet          3.26.0-4
ii  gnome-control-center  1:3.30.2-1
ii  gnome-user-docs       3.30.2-1
ii  iio-sensor-proxy      2.4-2
ii  switcheroo-control    1.2-1
ii  unzip                 6.0-21

Versions of packages gnome-shell suggests:
pn  gir1.2-telepathyglib-0.12   <none>
pn  gir1.2-telepathylogger-0.2  <none>

-- no debconf information



Reply sent to Jeremy Bícha <jbicha@debian.org>:
You have taken responsibility. (Sun, 09 Nov 2025 23:19:06 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).


Notification sent to Eduardo Barros <geadas@gmail.com>:
Bug acknowledged by developer. (Sun, 09 Nov 2025 23:19:06 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).


Message #15 received at 914918-done@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Jeremy Bícha <jbicha@debian.org>
To: 881151-done@bugs.debian.org, 696763-done@bugs.debian.org, 841273-done@bugs.debian.org, 648069-done@bugs.debian.org, 858278-done@bugs.debian.org, 889914-done@bugs.debian.org, 896647-done@bugs.debian.org, 867661-done@bugs.debian.org, 914918-done@bugs.debian.org, 916452-done@bugs.debian.org, 941215-done@bugs.debian.org, 944806-done@bugs.debian.org
Subject: closing old gnome-shell bugs
Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2025 18:17:49 -0500
There have been many changes to Debian since this bug was originally
reported. If you are still experiencing this issue with Debian 13 (or
with Debian 12 or Testing or Unstable), please report a new bug.

Thank you,
Jeremy Bícha



Bug archived. Request was from Debbugs Internal Request <owner@bugs.debian.org> to internal_control@bugs.debian.org. (Mon, 08 Dec 2025 07:29:52 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).


Send a report that this bug log contains spam.


Debian bug tracking system administrator <owner@bugs.debian.org>. Last modified: Fri Jan 23 19:31:10 2026; Machine Name: buxtehude

Debian Bug tracking system

Debbugs is free software and licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2. The current version can be obtained from https://bugs.debian.org/debbugs-source/.

Copyright © 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson, 2005-2017 Don Armstrong, and many other contributors.