Determining if an application has memory leaks

To see if a Java application running on a Windows NT platform is leaking memory, you might be tempted to simply observe the memory settings in Task Manager as the application is run. However, after observing a few Java applications at work, you will find that they use a lot of memory compared to native applications. Some Java projects that I have worked on can start out using 10 to 20 MB of system memory. Compare this number to the native Windows Explorer program shipped with the operating system, which uses something on the order of 5 MB.


The other thing to note about Java application memory use is that the typical program running with the IBM JDK 1.1.8 JVM seems to keep gobbling up more and more system memory as it runs. The program never seems to return any memory back to the system until a very large amount of physical memory has been allocated to the application. Could these situations be signs of a memory leak?


To understand what is going on, we need to familiarize ourselves with how the JVM uses system memory for its heap. When running java.exe, you can use certain options to control the startup and maximum size of the garbage-collected heap (-ms and -mx, respectively). The Sun JDK 1.1.8 uses a default 1 MB startup setting and a 16 MB maximum setting. The IBM JDK 1.1.8 uses a default maximum setting of one-half the total physical memory size of the machine. These memory settings have a direct impact on what the JVM does when it runs out of memory. The JVM may continue growing the heap rather than wait for a garbage collection cycle to complete.


So for the purposes of finding and eventually eliminating a memory leak, we are going to need better tools than task monitoring utility programs. Memory debugging programs can come in handy when you're trying to detect memory leaks. These programs typically give you information about the number of objects in the heap, the number of instances of each object, and the memory being using by the objects. In addition, they may also provide useful views showing each object's references and referrers so that you can track down the source of a memory leak.




Next, I will show how I detected and removed a memory leak using the JProbe debugger from Sitraka Software to give you some idea of how these tools can be deployed and the process required to successfully remove a leak.

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