Comparing Yum and Zypper's memory footprint

Setup:

• yum-3.4.3
• zypper-1.6.16, libzypp-10.3.4
• rpm-4.9.1.2
• all tests are running in mock, there are two repos enabled for both yum and zypper: fedora and fedora-updates

Method:

• measuring peak RSS with memusg from https://gist.github.com/526585/be4a49e3b62104361a412ed29d1a410a6f8c92ec
• for some runs I also took a measurement with massif (a valgrind tool, http://valgrind.org/docs/manual/ms-manual.html)

The git repo with the exact scripts used to setup the mock environemnt with zypper and run the tests is at ssh://rpm.org/srv/projects/rpm/private/mock-mem.git .

System with 100 packages

massif (peak heap consumption):

yum, install less	1 package	28 770 kB
yum, install fpaste	6 packages	37 325 kB
yum, install eclipse	336 packages	60 693 kB
zypper, install less	1 package	32 342 kB
zypper, install fpaste	6 packages	32 342 kB
zypper, install eclipse	329 packages	32 741 kB

memusg (peak Resident Set Size sampled each 0.1 seconds):

yum, install less	1 package	55 836 kB
yum, install fpaste	6 packages	67 556 kB
yum, install eclipse	336 packages	265 016 kB
zypper, install less	1 package	53 756 kB
zypper, install fpaste	6 packages	60 572 kB
zypper, install eclipse	329 packages	178 540 kB

System with around 260 packages

• package count: 259
• /var/lib/rpm: 31M
• /var/lib/rpm/Packages: 11M
• /var/cache/zypp/solv: 13M

yum install octave octave-audio	2 packages	66 416 kB
yum downgrade octave	1 package	63 532 kB
yum update octave	1 package	75 404 kB
yum erase octave	2 packages	67 328 kB
zypper install octave octave-audio	2 packages	83 660 kB
(zypper can't do downgrade)
zypper update octave	1 package	70 128 kB
zypper rm octave	2 packages	83 072 kB

System with around 3000 packages

• /var/lib/rpm 197M
• /var/lib/rpm/Packages 90M
• /var/cache/zypp/solv 16M

memusg:

yum install octave octave-audio	2 packages	195 540 kB
yum downgrade octave	1 package	232 972 kB
yum update octave	1 package	249 536 kB
yum erase octave	2 packages	227 200 kB
zypper install octave octave-audio	2 packages	148 592 kB
(zypper can't do downgrade)
zypper update octave	1 package	150 812 kB
zypper rm octave	2 packages	145 004 kB

System with around 6000 packages

• package count: 6008
• /var/lib/rpm 322M
• /var/lib/rpm/Packages 190M
• /var/cache/zypp/solv 20M

memusg:

yum install octave octave-audio	2 packages	263 700 kB
yum downgrade octave	1 package	259 876 kB
yum update octave	1 package	279 292 kB
yum erase octave	2 packages	253 000 kB
zypper install octave octave-audio	2 packages	167 020 kB
(zypper can't do downgrade)
zypper update octave	1 package	159 356 kB
zypper rm octave	2 packages	170 152 kB

System with around 9300 packages

• package count: 9294
• /var/lib/rpm 456M
• /var/lib/rpm/Packages 297M
• /var/cache/zypp/solv 24M

memusg

yum install octave octave-audio	2 packages	288 488 kB
yum downgrade octave	1 package	285 044 kB
yum update octave	1 package	307 476 kB
yum erase octave	2 packages	278 388 kB
zypper install octave octave-audio	2 packages	184 052 kB
(zypper can't do downgrade)
zypper update octave	1 package	167 904 kB
zypper rm octave	2 packages	175 428 kB