The memory is not released when using Sharp in Electron (Some Linux distributions)

Possible bug

Is this a possible bug in a feature of sharp, unrelated to installation?

• Running npm install sharp completes without error.
• Running node -e "require('sharp')" completes without error.

Are you using the latest version of sharp?

• I am using the latest version of sharp as reported by npm view sharp dist-tags.latest.

What is the output of running npx envinfo --binaries --system --npmPackages=sharp --npmGlobalPackages=sharp?

  System:
    OS: Linux 6.8 Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS 24.04.3 LTS (Noble Numbat)
    CPU: (16) x64 AMD Ryzen 7 5700G with Radeon Graphics
    Memory: 24.10 GB / 31.19 GB
    Container: Yes
    Shell: 5.2.21 - /bin/bash
  Binaries:
    Node: 22.13.1 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v22.13.1/bin/node
    npm: 10.9.2 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v22.13.1/bin/npm
    pnpm: 8.5.1 - /usr/bin/pnpm
  npmPackages:
    sharp: ^0.34.4 => 0.34.4

Does this problem relate to file caching?

• Adding sharp.cache(false) does not fix this problem.

What are the steps to reproduce?

git clone https://github.com/ollm/electron-sharp-memory.git
cd electron-sharp-memory
npm install
npm start

Currently, when using Sharp on some Linux distributions through Electron, memory is not being released. To try to fix this, I've tested using global.gc() or moving Sharp into node:worker_threads, but neither worked.

When running the same Sharp script directly in Node, memory usage grows to about 200-500 MB and then stabilizes, but inside Electron it keeps increasing without stopping.

I've read issues #667 and #955.

It may also be related to #4351 and https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/46323

In Electron, Ubuntu 24.04.3 (Memory increases):

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/18457f21-00d7-484a-8154-817514a34e1b

In Node, Ubuntu 24.04.3 (Memory remains stable):

node --expose-gc ./www/js/app.js
RSS: 0.06 GB, Heap Total: 0.01 GB, Heap Used: 0.01 GB, External: 0.00 GB
RSS: 0.12 GB, Heap Total: 0.01 GB, Heap Used: 0.01 GB, External: 0.00 GB
RSS: 0.17 GB, Heap Total: 0.01 GB, Heap Used: 0.01 GB, External: 0.00 GB
RSS: 0.19 GB, Heap Total: 0.01 GB, Heap Used: 0.01 GB, External: 0.00 GB
RSS: 0.19 GB, Heap Total: 0.01 GB, Heap Used: 0.01 GB, External: 0.00 GB
RSS: 0.19 GB, Heap Total: 0.01 GB, Heap Used: 0.01 GB, External: 0.00 GB
...

In Electron, Arch Linux (Memory remains stable, but not when running inside a Flatpak package):

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0bebd7fb-eed2-40f7-84c4-d7c68a30c05b

What is the expected behaviour?

That memory usage should be similar to running Sharp directly in Node.

Please provide a minimal, standalone code sample, without other dependencies, that demonstrates this problem

Electron sample app and app.js

Start with the linked electron-sharp-memory sample, especially www/js/app.js, and run npm install followed by npm start. Compare its Electron memory behavior with the Node command shown in the report, including on Ubuntu and Flatpak; done means memory usage stabilizes similarly to direct Node execution.