OOM and comparison with other mobile OSes
 

Hi,
Some months ago, when Jolla changed the behaviour of Sailfish in case of a lack of memory, there were a lot of discussions here and on TJC.

I just would like to know if there was some analysis about how SFOS behaves compared to similar mobile OSes, I mean iOS and BB10.x which are both *nix and native (AFAIK, Android runs Dalvik/Art and WP runs .Net). And if this comparison was completed, what are its results?

A simple question for my own culture and understanding.

Thanks.

Re: OOM and comparison with other mobile OSes
 

AFAIK iOS to this day does not really multitask - only the application that has focus is actually running, applications that are not running are paused (er even killed outright ?), which helps to avoid Oout OF Memory situation at the cost of increased application complexity and by making some application use-cases impossible (background tasks, interacting with two separate applications at the same time, etc.).

Disclaimer: My knowledge of iOS is not firsthand and likely outdated. Clarifications from more knowledgeable individuals are welcome. :)

When I last played with BB10 (about a year/year and a half ago) the situation was fairly similar to current Sailfish OS OOM handling - applications run as long as their window (called IRC "active frame" in the BB10 jargon) is in the running apps overview. And once memory runs out the oldest running app is killed. Applications can also do some very limited (both memory and time wise) background processing (the so called "headless apps/mode" support).

Re: OOM and comparison with other mobile OSes
 

Regarding iOS, there is a very detailed blogpost explaining the five different states an iOS app can have.

This information is more than 3 year old but I guess it's still valid.

Re: OOM and comparison with other mobile OSes
 

It's mostly still valid. Apple introduced split screen multitasking in iOS 9 so you can at least have 2 foreground apps on iPads.

Re: OOM and comparison with other mobile OSes
 

And very broadly, this is what Ubuntu Phone/Touch does as well, at least in what is referred to as "staged" mode. Currently, you can use some tweak tools to run in Windowed mode (a foretaste of forthcoming convergence). Apparently, true multi-tasking then is possible (but what OOM strategy would that follow?).

Re: OOM and comparison with other mobile OSes
 

Oh, right - Ubuntu Phone/Touch is indeed using this not-really-multitasking OOM/application lifecycle strategy. As for what issues it can cause/causes, you can see this blog post from Mike Sheldon, the developer of CuteSpotify:

The post is from 2013, so the situation might have improved since then.

Re: OOM and comparison with other mobile OSes
 

It remains much the same. Ongoing discussion. Pretty much makes Gps programs such as track recorders useless, as who wants the screen on for that use case?
That said, it is WIP and issues are openly discussed. Small team, so progress is slow.
I enjoy the MX4, mostly for the browsing (this was a major issue on the n900 in the end for me) and the camera is very good. Otherwise the n900 keeps my heart.

Re: OOM and comparison with other mobile OSes
 

moaarrr ram seems to fix the issue since i never have the over zealous OOM kicking in on the nexus 5 SFOS, but that doesnt mean other issues dont hinder performance,

Re: OOM and comparison with other mobile OSes
 

Now you lost me there?
You cannot be talking about Jollla, as GPS tracking with it works perfectly and I use it several times a week, both bicycling and hiking in woods.
My longest tracks are over 3h in length, logging coordinates every second and I have never lost points...

Re: OOM and comparison with other mobile OSes
 

I think handaxe was talking about Ubuntu though the description of it being much the same makes no sense. All the main mobile OSs allow background tasks for audio, GPS etc including iOS.

At this point it's a slightly bizarre state of affairs where a Linux company is being out-multitasked by even iOS and Windows Phone 7.