Citation preview incrementally increases memory usage with each preview

[kingwarrick]

JabRef 3.8.2
windows 10 10.0 amd64
Java 1.8.0_121

RAM is used during preview, but not fully released. With more previews, less is released until run-away usage occurs. After ~4-5 previews (or ~500MB RAM, not sure which is more significant), no appreciable amount of RAM is released, with subsequent previews adding 100-500MB per preview to total RAM usage. Behaviour changes after ~1400MB RAM use, with slower incremental use and more frequent release of small amounts of ram.

Tested with different preview styles (no change); interesting to note how CPU use in IEEE preview generation spikes to ~40%, whereas APA spikes to ~20%.

NOT tested with any release versions.

Steps to reproduce [RAM use in square brackets]:

1. Open JabRef and bibtex database (~900 entries)
2. Single click on entry to show preview box, wait for preview to show
3. Single click on another entry, wait for preview to show

This shows in the exceptions tab of the error console:

ANTLR Tool version 4.5.3 used for code generation does not match the current runtime version 4.6ANTLR Runtime version 4.5.3 used for parser compilation does not match the current runtime version 4.6ANTLR Tool version 4.5.3 used for code generation does not match the current runtime version 4.6ANTLR Runtime version 4.5.3 used for parser compilation does not match the current runtime version 4.6ANTLR Tool version 4.5.3 used for code generation does not match the current runtime version 4.6ANTLR Runtime version 4.5.3 used for parser compilation does not match the current runtime version 4.6ANTLR Tool version 4.5.3 used for code generation does not match the current runtime version 4.6ANTLR Runtime version 4.5.3 used for parser compilation does not match the current runtime version 4.6

[kingwarrick]

Similar to this:
#2247
but for preview rather than entry editing

tobiasdiez commented on Nov 8 2016
I can confirm at least the large memory footprint. After opening a normal db (mine has 500 entries and a few groups) JabRef eats only 200 MB of RAM. Now open the entry editor and run through a few entries (using the arrow keys so that a new entry editor is generated for the entries). Result: over 1 GB of RAM usage. Btw: the same db with 3.6 only needed < 100 MB RAM.

[koppor]

Yes, we cache the preview to gain speed when showing the second time. @bartsch-dev What is our policy for cache clearance?

[lenhard]

The mention did not work, so here again @bartsch-dev What is our policy on cache clearance?

[chriba]

The cached citation gets deleted when a field of the BibEntry changes or the BibEntry itself is removed (or the selected citation style changes). https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/blob/master/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/citationstyle/CitationStyleCache.java#L59

It gets generated again the next time it's selected by the user and the preview is active.

[koppor]

This issue will be solved if we remove the cache and finally integrate #2250 in the master branch.

[LinusDietz]

Sorry, can't confirm with current master 1f893cd under linux with

openjdk version "1.8.0_121"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_121-b13)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.121-b13, mixed mode)

I opened a 6k entry bibtex database and performed the above described steps. RAM never went beyond 425MB before the Garbage Collection kicked in.

[lenhard]

Thanks for testing @lynyus!

@kingwarrick Please give a it a try with the latest version of JabRef from http://builds.jabref.org/master/ Your problem seems to be solved in the most recent dev builds. Please do this with a backup of your bib file since there are a number of breaking changes regarding groups. Let us know if your experiences!

[kingwarrick]

Hello, The issue persists on my machine, both linux (openjdk, openjfx) and Windows 10 JabRef 4.0.0-dev--snapshot--2017-04-05--master--a1f4101df Windows 10 10.0 amd64 Java 1.8.0_121 Let me know if I can help in troubleshooting further. Warrick

…

On Wed, 05 Apr 2017 00:23:50 -0700 Jörg Lenhard ***@***.***> wrote: Thanks for testing @lynyus! @kingwarrick Please give a it a try with the latest version of JabRef from http://builds.jabref.org/master/ Your problem seems to be solved in the most recent dev builds. Please do this with a backup of your bib file since there are a number of breaking changes regarding groups. Let us know if your experiences!

[matthiasgeiger]

Can reproduce the high RAM and CPU usage if one of the CSL Styles is used for preview. Performing a manual garbage collection using jvisualvm reduces the amount of used heapspace - but this is not freeed for the OS.

I assume we cannot really do anything about this - potentially #2250 will solve this but I'm not Sure...

[koppor]

Yes, it will be solved. However, currently no one has time to work on the build process. Hopefully after the alpha release. Let's see.

[koppor]

@lynyus has worked on the caching of citation styles and it should get better.

@kingwarrick Is there any upper bound of memory usage? - There should be...