System load

Hello I have been using eos for two years. I have a problem with system overload. i.e. when I start e.g. the compilation of a program, after some time the system is no longer usable the mouse slows down and I cannot switch between programs.


In this example I am trying to install ungoogled-chromium

Can you share the contents of your /etc/makepkg.conf

#!/hint/bash
#
# /etc/makepkg.conf
#

#########################################################################
# SOURCE ACQUISITION
#########################################################################
#
#-- The download utilities that makepkg should use to acquire sources
#  Format: 'protocol::agent'
DLAGENTS=('file::/usr/bin/curl -qgC - -o %o %u'
          'ftp::/usr/bin/curl -qgfC - --ftp-pasv --retry 3 --retry-delay 3 -o %o %u'
          'http::/usr/bin/curl -qgb "" -fLC - --retry 3 --retry-delay 3 -o %o %u'
          'https::/usr/bin/curl -qgb "" -fLC - --retry 3 --retry-delay 3 -o %o %u'
          'rsync::/usr/bin/rsync --no-motd -z %u %o'
          'scp::/usr/bin/scp -C %u %o')

# Other common tools:
# /usr/bin/snarf
# /usr/bin/lftpget -c
# /usr/bin/wget

#-- The package required by makepkg to download VCS sources
#  Format: 'protocol::package'
VCSCLIENTS=('bzr::bzr'
            'fossil::fossil'
            'git::git'
            'hg::mercurial'
            'svn::subversion')

#########################################################################
# ARCHITECTURE, COMPILE FLAGS
#########################################################################
#
CARCH="x86_64"
CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

#-- Compiler and Linker Flags
#CPPFLAGS=""
CFLAGS="-march=x86-64 -mtune=generic -O2 -pipe -fno-plt -fexceptions \
        -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -Wformat -Werror=format-security \
        -fstack-clash-protection -fcf-protection"
CXXFLAGS="$CFLAGS -Wp,-D_GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS"
LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1,--sort-common,--as-needed,-z,relro,-z,now"
LTOFLAGS="-flto=auto"
#RUSTFLAGS="-C opt-level=2"
#-- Make Flags: change this for DistCC/SMP systems
#MAKEFLAGS="-j2"
#-- Debugging flags
DEBUG_CFLAGS="-g"
DEBUG_CXXFLAGS="$DEBUG_CFLAGS"
#DEBUG_RUSTFLAGS="-C debuginfo=2"

#########################################################################
# BUILD ENVIRONMENT
#########################################################################
#
# Makepkg defaults: BUILDENV=(!distcc !color !ccache check !sign)
#  A negated environment option will do the opposite of the comments below.
#
#-- distcc:   Use the Distributed C/C++/ObjC compiler
#-- color:    Colorize output messages
#-- ccache:   Use ccache to cache compilation
#-- check:    Run the check() function if present in the PKGBUILD
#-- sign:     Generate PGP signature file
#
BUILDENV=(!distcc color !ccache check !sign)
#
#-- If using DistCC, your MAKEFLAGS will also need modification. In addition,
#-- specify a space-delimited list of hosts running in the DistCC cluster.
#DISTCC_HOSTS=""
#
#-- Specify a directory for package building.
#BUILDDIR=/tmp/makepkg

#########################################################################
# GLOBAL PACKAGE OPTIONS
#   These are default values for the options=() settings
#########################################################################
#
# Makepkg defaults: OPTIONS=(!strip docs libtool staticlibs emptydirs !zipman !purge !debug !lto)
#  A negated option will do the opposite of the comments below.
#
#-- strip:      Strip symbols from binaries/libraries
#-- docs:       Save doc directories specified by DOC_DIRS
#-- libtool:    Leave libtool (.la) files in packages
#-- staticlibs: Leave static library (.a) files in packages
#-- emptydirs:  Leave empty directories in packages
#-- zipman:     Compress manual (man and info) pages in MAN_DIRS with gzip
#-- purge:      Remove files specified by PURGE_TARGETS
#-- debug:      Add debugging flags as specified in DEBUG_* variables
#-- lto:        Add compile flags for building with link time optimization
#
OPTIONS=(strip docs !libtool !staticlibs emptydirs zipman purge !debug !lto)

#-- File integrity checks to use. Valid: md5, sha1, sha224, sha256, sha384, sha512, b2
INTEGRITY_CHECK=(sha256)
#-- Options to be used when stripping binaries. See `man strip' for details.
STRIP_BINARIES="--strip-all"
#-- Options to be used when stripping shared libraries. See `man strip' for details.
STRIP_SHARED="--strip-unneeded"
#-- Options to be used when stripping static libraries. See `man strip' for details.
STRIP_STATIC="--strip-debug"
#-- Manual (man and info) directories to compress (if zipman is specified)
MAN_DIRS=({usr{,/local}{,/share},opt/*}/{man,info})
#-- Doc directories to remove (if !docs is specified)
DOC_DIRS=(usr/{,local/}{,share/}{doc,gtk-doc} opt/*/{doc,gtk-doc})
#-- Files to be removed from all packages (if purge is specified)
PURGE_TARGETS=(usr/{,share}/info/dir .packlist *.pod)
#-- Directory to store source code in for debug packages
DBGSRCDIR="/usr/src/debug"

#########################################################################
# PACKAGE OUTPUT
#########################################################################
#
# Default: put built package and cached source in build directory
#
#-- Destination: specify a fixed directory where all packages will be placed
#PKGDEST=/home/packages
#-- Source cache: specify a fixed directory where source files will be cached
#SRCDEST=/home/sources
#-- Source packages: specify a fixed directory where all src packages will be placed
#SRCPKGDEST=/home/srcpackages
#-- Log files: specify a fixed directory where all log files will be placed
#LOGDEST=/home/makepkglogs
#-- Packager: name/email of the person or organization building packages
#PACKAGER="John Doe <john@doe.com>"
#-- Specify a key to use for package signing
#GPGKEY=""

#########################################################################
# COMPRESSION DEFAULTS
#########################################################################
#
COMPRESSGZ=(gzip -c -f -n)
COMPRESSBZ2=(bzip2 -c -f)
COMPRESSXZ=(xz -c -z -)
COMPRESSZST=(zstd -c -z -q -)
COMPRESSLRZ=(lrzip -q)
COMPRESSLZO=(lzop -q)
COMPRESSZ=(compress -c -f)
COMPRESSLZ4=(lz4 -q)
COMPRESSLZ=(lzip -c -f)

#########################################################################
# EXTENSION DEFAULTS
#########################################################################
#
PKGEXT='.pkg.tar.zst'
SRCEXT='.src.tar.gz'

#########################################################################
# OTHER
#########################################################################
#
#-- Command used to run pacman as root, instead of trying sudo and su
#PACMAN_AUTH=()

Thanks for your response. I have not changed anything in this file.

Try uncommenting this line:

#MAKEFLAGS="-j2"

That should lower the amount of cores used when building packages from AUR.

From the output, it looks like you are building with all your cores. Also, the more cores you build with, the more RAM is consumed by the build.

Also, as a side note, building a browser is a huge task.

1 Like

Thanks for this tip.

Until now, I’ve always thought that if a task requires a lot of computing power then the system will use everything it has but leave some resources for the rest of the programs to run normally. Can I achieve this in eos. Oh and I have 8gb ram and no swap memory.

I would suggest creating a swap device (a file or partition; alternatively zram).

:eye: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Swap

2 Likes