JDK-6966194 : java heap memory not released when vm exits
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Component: hotspot
  • Sub-Component: gc
  • Affected Version: 1.2.2
  • Priority: P5
  • Status: Open
  • Resolution: Unresolved
  • OS: generic
  • CPU: generic
  • Submitted: 2010-07-02
  • Updated: 2019-02-11
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Other
tbdUnresolved
Related Reports
Relates :  
JDK-6859079 - JNI_CreateJavaVM() terminates the process on error condition instead of returning error code
Relates :  
JDK-7129722 - Possible memory leak during JVM initialization
Description
When the JVM exits, the memory used for the java heap is not released back to the O/S.  For applications launched from the command line with 'java' this is not a problem because the O/S reclaims all resources used by the process after it terminates.  However, applications that use the JNI invocation api to start the JVM and that continue to run after the JVM exits will see that the java heap memory (which can be very large) has been leaked.
Comments
Turning this in to an enhancement. I think this should be part of a larger effort to make sure that HotSpot exists cleanly and releases the memory it has allocated. The heap is just one part (admittedly a large part) of the memory that we don't release.
03-05-2013
EVALUATION A long-standing problem that has never been reported, presumably because very few apps use the jni invocation api and run for any length of time after destroying the JVM. Nevertheless it would be nice for the JVM to do the proper housekeeping and clean up after itself.
02-07-2010