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1. Embed this notice
   Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Saturday, 12-Sep-2026 23:06:22 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

   STOP DOING SWAP PARTITIONS

   HARD DRIVES WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO ACT LIKE RAM

   YEARS OF LINUX SYSADMINNING yet NO REAL-WORLD USE FOUND for going beyond CLOSING A FEW TABS

   Wanted to avoid the OOM killer anyway for a laugh? We had a tool for that: It was called ZRAM

   "Yes please give me a dedicated 64GB logical volume of SWAP. Please give me unresizable block devices trapped at the end of my disk." - STATEMENTS DREAMED UP BY THE UTTERLY DERANGED

   LOOK at what Neckbeards have been demanding your Respect for all this time, with all the fdisk and GParted Live USBs we built for them. (This is REAL PARTITIONING, done by REAL LINUX USERS):

   # mkswap /dev/nvme0n1p3
   # echo /dev/nvme0n1p3 none swap sw 0 0 >> /etc/fstab
   # swapon -a
   

   "Hello I would like to torture my SSD's FTL because I left three Electron apps open."

   They have played us for absolute fools.

   #linux #sysadmin

   • Embed this notice
     mark (atleagle@mastodon.online)'s status on Saturday, 12-Sep-2026 23:21:54 JST mark

     in reply to

     @ryanc I come from the times when this made sense. There really is no use on modern systems.

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Saturday, 12-Sep-2026 23:21:54 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • mark

     @ATLeagle I cut my teeth on 2.2, but nuance doesn't survive memeification

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Saturday, 12-Sep-2026 23:58:10 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • onion

     @onion hibernation is stored in the balls, change, my mind

   • Embed this notice
     onion (onion@mastodon.tal.org)'s status on Saturday, 12-Sep-2026 23:58:14 JST onion

     in reply to

     @ryanc guess where hibernation is done

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 00:15:18 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • MacCruiskeen

     @maccruiskeen 😱 please just permit me the sweet release of termination

   • Embed this notice
     MacCruiskeen (maccruiskeen@social.linux.pizza)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 00:15:22 JST MacCruiskeen

     in reply to

     @ryanc I am old enough to remember when we did the swap with cassette tapes.

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 00:24:24 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • mark
     • Khleedril

     @khleedril @ATLeagle a common misunderstanding, they're actually about new dance

   • Embed this notice
     Khleedril (khleedril@cyberplace.social)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 00:24:25 JST Khleedril

     in reply to

     • mark

     @ryanc @ATLeagle I thought memes were all about nuance.

   • Embed this notice
     zer0 :verified: (zer0@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 00:32:31 JST zer0 :verified:

     in reply to

     @ryanc the disadvantages of zram are well known (cpu overhead due to de/compression and the kernel struggling to free up unused cache space). A configured userspace oom killer clearly adds a lot in term of managing low memory conditions.

     If you have a machine you wish to run sets of virtual machines concurrently, I'd recommend doing big partitioned swap on nvme.

     But the reason I'm commenting: If you are doing the local AI thing and you feel like freeing up your nvme swap, you might want to look into repurposing the space into GPUDirectable KV cache:
     https://docs.lmcache.ai/mp/l2_storage/index.html

     Checked my neck; we can be friends :flan_thumbs:

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 00:33:04 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • ZEN :upa:

     @zen You can save files to disk, though, and also, whilst I agree Vlad is a terrorist, trying to change the topic to that in the replies of a copypasta snowclone shitpost is an interesting choice.

   • Embed this notice
     ZEN :upa: (zen@social.net.ua)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 00:33:06 JST ZEN :upa:

     in reply to
     @ryanc try living in Ukraine under constant shelling and missile attacks by ruzzia on civilian and critical infrastructure, such as the energy sector. Swap+hibernate to disk do save your unfinished work even if your battery is discharged to 0%, so you can resume your work when you’re able to charge your laptop.
     
     P.S. Soon, WWIII will be in Europe. I recommend picking up some pro tips from us (Ukrainians) on how to survive.
     
     #RussiaIsATerroristState
   • Embed this notice
     Simon Zerafa (simonzerafa@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 00:40:28 JST Simon Zerafa

     in reply to

     @ryanc

     As I discovered yesterday CachyOS doesn't use a swap file or partition 🙂🤷♂️

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 00:41:02 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • zer0 :verified:

     @zer0 I'm curious why you're speculating I'm doing the local AI thing?

   • Embed this notice
     zer0 :verified: (zer0@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 00:46:53 JST zer0 :verified:

     in reply to

     @ryanc From the previous toot you could speculate how I repurposed some of my machines. Or how I dual-use them, depending on the task at hand even :flan_guns:.

     So what are you doing then?

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 01:29:27 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • mark
     • Wilfried Klaebe

     @wonka @ATLeagle avi

   • Embed this notice
     Wilfried Klaebe (wonka@chaos.social)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 01:29:29 JST Wilfried Klaebe

     in reply to

     • mark

     Hibernation to swap.

     @ATLeagle @ryanc

   • Embed this notice
     dr.-ing. ⁡jaseg (jaseg@chaos.social)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 01:49:43 JST dr.-ing. ⁡jaseg

     in reply to

     @ryanc for my work on ashen I’m currently doing a deep dive into linux kernel memory management and the sheer amount of weird shit that can happen to a page of memory is slightly concerning

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 02:46:11 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • dr.-ing. ⁡jaseg

     @jaseg That it's only "slightly" is, quite frankly, reassuring. I have been diving into the network stack lately and I have nightmares about it.

   • Embed this notice
     David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*) (david_chisnall@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 02:47:23 JST David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)

     in reply to

     @ryanc I had a legitimate use case for a swap partition on my NAS (though that was FreeBSD not Linux):

     I installed it with a BIOS loader. After about ten years, I replaced the motherboard with one that had UEFI with no BIOS compat layer.

     Having a swap partition meant I could boot a recovery image, shrink the swap partition and add a UEFI boot partition, without any risk to data I cared about.

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 05:23:34 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Kerplunk

     @Kerplunk My dude, it is a copypasta snowclone shitpost.

     https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/stop-doing-math

   • Embed this notice
     Kerplunk (kerplunk@mastodon.scot)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 05:23:35 JST Kerplunk

     in reply to

     @ryanc

     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:
     @ryanc

     STOP DOING SWAP PARTITIONS

     HARD DRIVES WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO ACT LIKE RAM

     You are it seems blinded by luxury of a modern system with 8 or 16 GB of Ram.

     Many Linux users manage with devices that have 2 GB Ram and can not afford to replace them.

     Calling those users deranged because they need and use a swap partition is

     discriminating and deeply insulting.

   • Embed this notice
     CannedTuna (madcannedtuna@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 05:23:51 JST CannedTuna

     in reply to

     @ryanc here, made it a graphic

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 05:25:00 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • CannedTuna

     @madcannedtuna this is delightful

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 05:51:46 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Maya

     @skyblitz

   • Embed this notice
     Maya (skyblitz@ieji.de)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 05:51:48 JST Maya

     in reply to

     @ryanc you know you can use a swap that run in the ram ? (this "swap" is just a compressed file, slower but allow "more ram" when the ram is full).

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 06:11:38 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • zer0 :verified:

     @zer0 At the moment, feeling slightly smug about having maxed out RAM on my machines before the price skyrocketed and shitposting about it, tbh.

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 06:54:17 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Cliff'sEsportCorner

     @CliffsEsport I'm baffled as to how anyone could think I was serious, it's a copypasta snowclone of "STOP DOING MATH".

     I don't run with swap on most of my systems because they have more RAM than they need for their workload, or can't realistically use swap (e.g. low durability flash), but this shitpost was inspired by a "don't use a swap partition, use a swap file" post I saw earlier today.

   • Embed this notice
     Cliff'sEsportCorner (cliffsesport@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 06:54:18 JST Cliff'sEsportCorner

     in reply to

     @ryanc Not sure if your serious or not? Have swap on several machines for various reasons, some because they are physically capped at 8GB running whatever w XFCE, some because they are Macs still running MacOS that has it natively. Though those are all SSD though in case of the Core 2 Duo machine stuck w SATA 2 speed.

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 06:57:05 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • lolcat
     • cn (OLD)

     @lolcat @cancername this thread is full of people taking a modified version of the "STOP DOING MATH" meme way too seriously

   • Embed this notice
     cn (OLD) (cancername@mas.to)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 06:57:06 JST cn (OLD)

     in reply to

     @ryanc tl;dr: no
     https://chrisdown.name/2018/01/02/in-defence-of-swap.html

   • Embed this notice
     lolcat (lolcat@digipres.club)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 06:57:06 JST lolcat

     in reply to

     • cn (OLD)

     @cancername @ryanc

     Thanks. This whole runaway thread is based on dangerously shallow understanding of the Linux memory subsystem.

   • Embed this notice
     Cliff'sEsportCorner (cliffsesport@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 07:09:49 JST Cliff'sEsportCorner

     in reply to

     @ryanc Well for me I lacked the context, no idea what "Stop Doing Math" refers to so unable to see that connection. ^^

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 07:09:49 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Cliff'sEsportCorner

     @CliffsEsport https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/stop-doing-math

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 07:14:45 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Cliff'sEsportCorner

     @CliffsEsport This is like when I quotd tweeted something with "This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." and then it escaped containment and I got piled on by people unfamiliar with both my shitposting and hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 07:17:39 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Lou.

     @gkrnours Why would I want to store a kernel panic dump?

   • Embed this notice
     Lou. (gkrnours@mastodon.gamedev.place)'s status on Sunday, 13-Sep-2026 07:17:41 JST Lou.

     in reply to

     @ryanc where do you store your kernel panic dump if not swap?