protonscr

SteamWebHelper (possible) memory leak

steamclosed Distro Family: ArchWeb Component
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#7004 · opened 2020-04-02 by FrankNoWar · updated 2020-04-06 · 3 comments · github
FFrankNoWar 2020-04-02 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version (build number or date): March 26, 2020
  • Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): Arch Linux
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: Yes (but doesn't affect current issue)
  • Have you checked for system updates?: Yes

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

  • What I expected should happen: Opening my Steam Client and seeing my games library, then playing a game.

  • What did happen: Steam Library didn't display, entire 16 GB memory got filled, then entire 24 GB Swap got filled, then computer stopped responding.

  • Steam System Information: https://gist.github.com/FrankNoWar/3246d66a677aec55367fef350e00b7ad

Steps for reproducing this issue:

  1. Open Steam Client (Runtime or Native, doesn't affect issue)
  2. Wait for a few seconds
  3. Computer hangs because of Out of memory condition (./steamwebhelper process can be still killed with htop or another utility but it requires a lot of patience)
  4. If killed, SteamWebHelper comes back and grabs all memory available again.
FFrankNoWar 2020-04-03 github

Forgot to add... a few threads have been started on the Steam Forums, here is an example.

Memory overflow caused by steam client, any idea how to fix it?

TTTimo 2020-04-06 github

note: the thread suggests this is observed on Windows as well

FFrankNoWar 2020-04-06 github

That’s what I found as well. And I forgot to close the issue as it resolved itself after a few days.

Nothing extracted yet.