GNU bug report logs - #81087
Emacs 30.2 on macOS retains ~500 MB RSS after closing most buffers

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Package: emacs; Reported by: Eric Auld <eric.auld@HIDDEN>; Done: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@HIDDEN>; Maintainer for emacs is bug-gnu-emacs@HIDDEN.

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Date: Sat, 06 Jun 2026 12:32:13 +0300
Message-Id: <86mrx8ko9u.fsf@HIDDEN>
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@HIDDEN>
To: eric.auld@HIDDEN
In-Reply-To: <86ecj5z1u8.fsf@HIDDEN> (message from Eli Zaretskii on Thu, 21
 May 2026 09:57:51 +0300)
Subject: Re: bug#81087: Emacs 30.2 on macOS retains ~500 MB RSS after closing
 most buffers
References: <CAJoW6jc0FO20F5rigxFvVvAYHso=ihKHh34Tvx50SGmCiDx8cA@HIDDEN>
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> Cc: 81087 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Thu, 21 May 2026 09:57:51 +0300
> From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@HIDDEN>
> 
> > From: Eric Auld <eric.auld@HIDDEN>
> > Date: Wed, 20 May 2026 18:31:42 -0400
> > 
> > The concern is not that 500 MB RSS is necessarily impossible for Emacs, but
> > that the footprint remained high after reducing the number of open buffers
> > substantially. This makes it look not simply explained by having many buffers
> > open.
> 
> The question is how much of that memory is "free" for using by the
> Emacs process.  Many C runtime libraries don't return memory to the OS
> but retain it as part of the process's address space as free blocks.
> So if you want to know whether there is indeed some problem, you need
> to use some tool that can show how much of that memory footprint is
> allocated and how much is free blocks.

No further comments within more than 2 weeks, so I'm now closing this
bug.




Notification sent to Eric Auld <eric.auld@HIDDEN>:
bug acknowledged by developer. Full text available.
Reply sent to Eli Zaretskii <eliz@HIDDEN>:
You have taken responsibility. Full text available.

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Date: Thu, 21 May 2026 09:57:51 +0300
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From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@HIDDEN>
To: Eric Auld <eric.auld@HIDDEN>
In-Reply-To: <CAJoW6jc0FO20F5rigxFvVvAYHso=ihKHh34Tvx50SGmCiDx8cA@HIDDEN>
 (message from Eric Auld on Wed, 20 May 2026 18:31:42 -0400)
Subject: Re: bug#81087: Emacs 30.2 on macOS retains ~500 MB RSS after closing
 most buffers
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> From: Eric Auld <eric.auld@HIDDEN>
> Date: Wed, 20 May 2026 18:31:42 -0400
> 
> The concern is not that 500 MB RSS is necessarily impossible for Emacs, but
> that the footprint remained high after reducing the number of open buffers
> substantially. This makes it look not simply explained by having many buffers
> open.

The question is how much of that memory is "free" for using by the
Emacs process.  Many C runtime libraries don't return memory to the OS
but retain it as part of the process's address space as free blocks.
So if you want to know whether there is indeed some problem, you need
to use some tool that can show how much of that memory footprint is
allocated and how much is free blocks.




Information forwarded to bug-gnu-emacs@HIDDEN:
bug#81087; Package emacs. Full text available.

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Subject: Emacs 30.2 on macOS retains ~500 MB RSS after closing most buffers
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 Content preview:  Hello, I am seeing a high resident memory footprint from a
 long-running GUI Emacs process on macOS. After closing many old buffers,
 the same process is still using about 500 MB RSS with a modest number of bu
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--000000000000c79f3a0652475d35
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

Hello,

I am seeing a high resident memory footprint from a long-running GUI Emacs
process on macOS. After closing many old buffers, the same process is still
using about 500 MB RSS with a modest number of buffers open.

Environment:

- GNU Emacs 30.2
- macOS
- App bundle: /Applications/Emacs.app
- Bundle identifier: org.gnu.Emacs
- Binary: /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs-arm64-11

Current process evidence:

- PID: 5400
- Started: Fri May 15 07:04:41 2026
- RSS from ps: 503,472 KB
- VSZ from ps: 421,853,376 KB

The process was queried with:

```sh
ps -p 5400 -o pid,lstart,rss,vsz,pmem,comm,args
```

After closing many old buffers, the live Emacs server reported:

```elisp
(:emacs-pid 5400
 :buffer-count 33
 :file-buffer-count 13
 :markdown-buffer-count 12
 :current-buffer " *server*"
 :current-file nil)
```

That was collected with:

```sh
/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin/emacsclient --eval \
'(let* ((buffers (buffer-list))
        (file-buffers
         (seq-filter (lambda (b)
                       (buffer-local-value '\''buffer-file-name b))
                     buffers))
        (md-buffers
         (seq-filter (lambda (b)
                       (let ((f (buffer-local-value '\''buffer-file-name
b)))
                         (and f (string-match-p "\\.md\\'" f))))
                     buffers)))
   (list :emacs-pid (emacs-pid)
         :buffer-count (length buffers)
         :file-buffer-count (length file-buffers)
         :markdown-buffer-count (length md-buffers)
         :current-buffer (buffer-name)
         :current-file buffer-file-name))'
```

The concern is not that 500 MB RSS is necessarily impossible for Emacs, but
that the footprint remained high after reducing the number of open buffers
substantially. This makes it look not simply explained by having many
buffers
open.

I have not yet reproduced this under `emacs -Q`. If that is the next useful
step, I can try to gather the same process and buffer-count evidence from a
clean session.

Thanks.

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<div dir=3D"ltr">Hello,<br><br>I am seeing a high resident memory footprint=
 from a long-running GUI Emacs<br>process on macOS. After closing many old =
buffers, the same process is still<br>using about 500 MB RSS with a modest =
number of buffers open.<br><br>Environment:<br><br>- GNU Emacs 30.2<br>- ma=
cOS<br>- App bundle: /Applications/Emacs.app<br>- Bundle identifier: org.gn=
u.Emacs<br>- Binary: /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs-arm64-11<=
br><br>Current process evidence:<br><br>- PID: 5400<br>- Started: Fri May 1=
5 07:04:41 2026<br>- RSS from ps: 503,472 KB<br>- VSZ from ps: 421,853,376 =
KB<br><br>The process was queried with:<br><br>```sh<br>ps -p 5400 -o pid,l=
start,rss,vsz,pmem,comm,args<br>```<br><br>After closing many old buffers, =
the live Emacs server reported:<br><br>```elisp<br>(:emacs-pid 5400<br>=C2=
=A0:buffer-count 33<br>=C2=A0:file-buffer-count 13<br>=C2=A0:markdown-buffe=
r-count 12<br>=C2=A0:current-buffer &quot; *server*&quot;<br>=C2=A0:current=
-file nil)<br>```<br><br>That was collected with:<br><br>```sh<br>/Applicat=
ions/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin/emacsclient --eval \<br>&#39;(let* ((buff=
ers (buffer-list))<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 (file-buffers<br>=C2=A0 =
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0(seq-filter (lambda (b)<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0(buffer-local=
-value &#39;\&#39;&#39;buffer-file-name b))<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0buffers))<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 (md-buffers<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0(seq-filter =
(lambda (b)<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=
=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0(let ((f (buffer-local-value &#39;\&#39;&#39;buffer=
-file-name b)))<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0(and f (string-match-p &quot;\\.md\\&#39;=
&quot; f))))<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=
=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0buffers)))<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0(list :emacs-pid (emacs-pid)<br=
>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0:buffer-count (length buffers)<br>=C2=A0=
 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0:file-buffer-count (length file-buffers)<br>=C2=
=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0:markdown-buffer-count (length md-buffers)<b=
r>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0:current-buffer (buffer-name)<br>=C2=A0=
 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0:current-file buffer-file-name))&#39;<br>```<br=
><br>The concern is not that 500 MB RSS is necessarily impossible for Emacs=
, but<br>that the footprint remained high after reducing the number of open=
 buffers<br>substantially. This makes it look not simply explained by havin=
g many buffers<br>open.<br><br>I have not yet reproduced this under `emacs =
-Q`. If that is the next useful<br>step, I can try to gather the same proce=
ss and buffer-count evidence from a<br>clean session.<br><br>Thanks.<br></d=
iv>

--000000000000c79f3a0652475d35--




Acknowledgement sent to Eric Auld <eric.auld@HIDDEN>:
New bug report received and forwarded. Copy sent to bug-gnu-emacs@HIDDEN. Full text available.
Report forwarded to bug-gnu-emacs@HIDDEN:
bug#81087; Package emacs. Full text available.
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