Keeping Linux Responsive - Taming the OOM Killer with EarlyOOM

The Linux kernel's OOM killer is a last resort mechanism that activates when memory is critically low. It aims to prevent system crashes by terminating processes, but often intervenes too late, leading to freezes. The OOM killer prioritizes keeping root processes alive and avoids user space applications, even memory-hungry ones like Chrome. This can be problematic, particularly on personal computers where user applications are the primary cause of memory exhaustion. Earlyoom is presented as an alternative OOM killer designed to proactively target user processes before the system becomes unresponsive. It monitors memory usage, and kills the process consuming the most memory once a defined threshold is reached. Earlyoom is highlighted for its simplicity, efficiency, and minimal resource consumption compared to the native OOM killer. It is easily installed, run as a systemd service, and offers customizable settings, including memory thresholds and process preferences. Earlyoom can be configured with parameters like process preference and avoidance. Using Earlyoom is recommended for systems with limited RAM (4-8 GB) to prevent slowdowns and freezes.