How to inspect the memory usage of a process / program

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10

Situation

A process is using a lot of memory e.g. a memory hole is suspected. How can this be analysed?

Resolution

Use the command pmap from the package procps. The command only needs the process id (PID) which you can find out with ps.

Note: You can find the information also in the proc file system, but pmap presents it in a better readable format.

Disclaimer

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