Memory usage

[Ethan Blanton]

Zdenek Kabelac spake unto us the following wisdom:
> Is there anyone here interested in the memory requirements of pidgin -
> or is it just me who thinks that using 12MB on the heap to keep couple
> icq contacts and two irc chat windows is too much :)
> (Also it could be seen that many other libs seems to take quite some
> space even when they are not used)

We would love to see the memory requirements of Pidgin reduced.  We
are aware of a small number of inefficiencies (some of which might
have significant impact) which are either difficult to correct or have
simply not drawn enough interest.  If you are offering to work on this
problem, I'm sure we can throw together a list.  (We probably should,
anyway.)  In the general case, however, figuring things like this out
is a rather difficult and time-consuming process.  It would be great
if someone chose to tackle it, but we have not currently going about
it in any systematic sort of way.

Note that some (not insignificant) amount of that memory is likely
tied up by things which we can do little about -- rendered font glyphs
in pango, icons in Gtk+, etc.  What total proportion of that 16MB it
is, I cannot say.

Ethan

-- 
The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws [that have no remedy
for evils].  They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor
determined to commit crimes.
		-- Cesare Beccaria, "On Crimes and Punishments", 1764
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://pidgin.im/pipermail/devel/attachments/20080425/af34a324/attachment.sig>