Muffin compositor leaks memory at ~100-140KB/s on X11 with dual monitors
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- C
- Stars
- 245
- Forks
- 127
- PR merge metrics
- No merged PRs in 30d
Description
Environment
- Cinnamon 6.6.7, Muffin 6.6.3 (Linux Mint Zena / Ubuntu Noble base)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, driver 590.48.01 (proprietary kernel modules)
- X11 session
- Dual ultrawide monitors: 3840x1600@144Hz (DP-4) + 3840x1600@60Hz (DP-2)
- No custom applets, extensions, or desklets installed
Bug
The Cinnamon/Muffin compositor leaks memory continuously during normal desktop use. After ~10 days of uptime, Cinnamon's RSS reaches ~930MB (starting from ~200-300MB after a fresh login). The leak rate measured via ps -o rss sampling is approximately 100-140KB/sec, monotonically increasing:
Timestamp RSS (KB)
1772590230 929280
1772590231 929304
1772590232 929592
1772590233 929596
1772590234 929884
1772590235 929892
1772590236 930180
1772590237 930372
1772590238 930432
1772590239 930432
Impact
Desktop experience degrades over time, requiring a reboot.
Workaround
Logout/login resolves it.
Notes
- No
STACK_OP_ADDerrors or other Muffin warnings in.xsession-errorscorrelate with the leak (only a brief burst of 14 during a Zoom tray icon removal). - GPU is at P8/idle clocks during desktop use — the leak appears to be on the CPU/system memory side, not VRAM (stable at ~1450MB for Xorg).
Contributor guide
No contributing guide indexed for this repository
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Begin with Muffin's X11 compositor path and monitor Cinnamon's RSS using ps -o rss; the report provides no source file or test entry point. Reproduce the leak with the listed dual-monitor setup, isolate the retaining path, and verify that RSS remains stable during extended desktop use.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- c, linux
- Domain
- desktop, operating-systems, performance
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100