Gnome-software always in background

General Help
#2

Sadly, this is not recommended. The interconnected path relies on Software Updater. Without that running in the background, you would not receive any notifications of security updates, etc.
The biggest issue with this is not really that Gnome-Software runs in the background as much as that it is prone to memory leaks. Users Addressing Grievances with Gnome and Gnome apps is the most effective route toward improvement.

All that said, you can disable the software updater and gnome-software autostart and only run them when you want... But... would need to kill the process when finished. :expressionless:

2 Likes
#3

ok but, thats a very annoying thing it uses 1 gb of memory

#4

Oh I agree- which also sounds like a memory leak to me (it is not supposed to do that). Have you tested this?

I had similar happen to me on Zorin OS 15 while I was still pretty novice at Linux. My "solution" in the end was to reinstall Zorin OS, which did solve the issue...

#5

oh ok I think it was installing something cause now it is between 200 and 300, Anyway thanks if it happens again i will reinstall zorin

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#6

We can test for a memory leak if it happens again, to try to save you a headache. If you prefer to get a fresh start with a reinstall, you can do that too...

#7

how can i test for a memory leak

#8

madhaven, there are a few ways; let's try a guide that has screenshots to help:

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#9

can i just ask 1 more doubt: What should be the memory usage on idle

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#10

I read the article and it doesnt look like i have a memory leak

#11

Ask all you need; Gnome-software at idle should be using significantly low memory - less than a percent to less than 7%.
Or a couple megs at most.
During times that update-checker is running, it can run higher - but these should be generally brief, not long lasting periods of time.

#12

it uses 223.4 megs on idle should i be worried
btw i have 8gigs of ram

#13

Honestly... that would not make me sweat, really... But can you hit alt+F2 and enter into it r and hit enter- to restart gnome-shell. Then after doing this, monitor gnome-software memory usage for a few minutes?

#14

after doing that it is still at 223.4 so its fine right

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#15

I just took the easy route and checked it against mine. It is comparable to mine- mine is quite a bit less but that is because I am running the "lite" XFCE desktop, not Gnome.
It is running and idling at about 3.8%

#16

yeah in terms of % its quite similar
i think mine also uses about 2-3%

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#17

I just notice, mine has the same issue. Gnome Software increased to 500MB second largest memory usage app, first is gnome-shell 760MB. After I killed and restarted gnome-software it becomes 154MB

#18

Is it consistently like that or does it once in a while?
Gnome-software must periodically run the checks on the sources for updates.

#19

I have only just started Zorin OS. It is unknown to me if it always happens. It does not make sense to use 500MB to run update checks in the background. If the app is closed, only the service should be running, but in this case the whole app is still running because 154MB does not change when the app is open or closed. Therefore when you close the app, the app isn't closed.

#20

This is true, the app will run in the background. You might try sudo apt install --reinstall gnome-software and see if it continues the same. If that fixes it, it may have had a memory leak.

#21

I re-installed gnome-software and it restarted. goes to 250MB. I think is the app itself has the problem. The system will free the memory if some other heavy app will be used, it usually does not happen