[erlang-questions] eheap_alloc crash when using mnesia

[Matthew Dempsky]

On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 1:07 AM, Robert Raschke <rtrlists@REDACTED> wrote:
> Beware! With modern kernels it is no longer true that malloc always
> fails if you run out of memory. Often you'll find it crashes upon
> access of the allocated memory rather than on the call to malloc().

To my knowledge, Linux does this but allows you to disable it with a
run-time kernel setting, and BSD does not.  This understanding seems
supported at least by PostgreSQL's documentation, which specifically
calls out Linux's behavior and how to disable it without mentioning
any other kernels:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/kernel-resources.html

I'll admit to not having thoroughly researched the issue though.  If
someone can speak more authoritatively, I'm all ears. :-)