Memeory Leak in Windows Page file when calling a shell command
- by Arno
I have an issue on our Windows 2003 x64 Build Server when invoking shell commands from a script. Each call causes a "memory leak" in the page file so it grows quite rapidly until it reaches the maximum and the machine stops working.
I can reproduce the problem very nicely by running a perl script like
for ($count=1; $count<5000; $count++)
{
system "echo huhu";
}
It is independent of he scripting language as the same happens with lua:
for i=1,5000 do
os.execute("echo huhu")
end
I found somebody describing the same issue with php at
http://www.issociate.de/board/post/454835/Memory_leak_occurs_when_exec%28%29_function_is_used_on_Windows_platform.html
His solution: Firewall/Virus Scanner does not apply, neither are running on the machine.
We can also reproduce the issue on other Developer Machines running XP 64, but not on XP 32 Bit.
I also found an article describing a leak situation in page file at
http://www.programfragment.com/
The guilty guy for the allocation is C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs which runs all the basic Windows services.
Does anybody know the issue and how to resolve it ?
