cygwin memory leak problems: possible solution

[Larry Hall (Cygwin)]

Luca Trevisani wrote:
> Hi, I encountered memory leaks problems compiling a large code under 
> cygwin.
> I tried both under winxp and win2k with same result: the memory 
> resources of
> the system started slowly falling down, up to the end of the process with
> error messages like "fork: resource temporarily unavailable".
> 
> I found many discussions on this topic on the cygwin mailing list, such as:
> http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2003-08/msg00328.html
> http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2006-06/msg00366.html
> so I think it is a known problem many people face, but I could not find any
> solution to the problem.
> 
> After many tries, I found the solution: in my case the problem was the
> zonealarm firewall. Since zonealarm is widely used, I suspect the same 
> issue
> affects the pc of many others. Unfortunately it is not enough to turn 
> off or
> disable zonealarm to avoid the problem. It is needed to uninstall it, 
> and to
> be sure it is better to follow the full list of things to do to be sure to
> completely uninstall zonealarm as reported on:
> http://www.nohold.net/noHoldCust25/Prod_1/Articles55646/CompleteUninstallNonNT.html 
> 
> 
> I have tried many other free firewall programs and did not encounter this
> issue anymore, you can try for instance: Ashampoo Firewall, Comodo 
> Firewall,
> PC Tools Firewall, Sygate Personal Firewall etc...
> 
> If the solution is confirmed by other users facing this issue, I think it
> should be included in the cygwin FAQ. The incompatibility is in fact very
> difficult to detect, because it remains even if the zonealarm firewall is
> disabled.


This is a known issue in general for the Cygwin/X folks, specifically for
ZoneAlarm, although you'll see some conflicting reports.  Your finding that
the firewall needs to be uninstalled to avoid the problems is quite true.
Firewalls insert themselves into the networking stack.  Turning them off
does not avoid any buggy code that they have inserted.  Only uninstalling
returns the stack to its original form, eliminating the bug.  If you were
using the latest version of ZoneAlarm, you may want to consider reporting
the problem to them if you have not already.


-- 
Larry Hall                              http://www.rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
216 Dalton Rd.                          (508) 893-9889 - FAX
Holliston, MA 01746

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
 > Q: Are you sure?
 >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
 >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?

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