Subject: [cuirass] guix gc throws: "error: build daemon out of memory"

From: Maxim Cournoyer <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2023 22:19:25 -0400

Hi,

Since a few days on Berlin, the following appears in /var/log/mcron.log:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
2023-08-22 04:00:29 28215 /gnu/store/4lmpqf8dnk86avq5xa2l6bznxnmrz27x-guix-1.4.0-7.44bbfc2/bin/guix gc: guix gc: error: build daemon out of memory
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

It's not just a fluke, according to the kernel's dmesg:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
[7190243.475312] __vm_enough_memory: pid: 28300, comm: guix-daemon, not enough memory for the allocation
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Once it appears, it can be triggered simply by running 'guix gc'.  The
problem can be worked around by restarting the Guix daemon, with:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
herd restart guix-daemon
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Any ideas what could cause such a condition?

The machine hasn't been rebooted in 83 days, perhaps we should start
with that.

-- 
Thanks,
Maxim