Excessive memory usage 2.10.24 r2

[BlazedSpawn]

I'm using gimp 2.10.24 (rev 2) on Windows 10, system memory 4 gb. The program is reserving an inordinate amount of memory on load--Resource Monitor shows it at about 1 gigabyte. I have uninstalled it and reinstalled it with minimum features (no python, no mypaint brushes, no translations, plugins--just PS import). I've set the resource consumption preferences as follows:

min undo levels: 3
max undo memory: 64 mebibyte
tile cache size: 1 gibibyte
max new image size: 128 mebibyte
swap compression: best performance
# of threads to use: 4

Any ideas why it's holding so much memory, why it takes so long (about a minute) to release it on quit, and what I can do about it?

[rich2005]

Not a solution to your problem, just a comparison.

This using the built-in Gimp monitor, Gimp menu Windows -> Dockable Dialogues -> Dashboard Gimp newly opened, no image open.

Left side is a Win10 VM with memory less than yours, just 3.5 GB Right side is this linux laptop 8 GB memory.  Both regular installations, default system resource settings.
Both record a very small amount of memory used, 70 to 80 MB.

   

What does your installation show ?

Re-installing Gimp rarely does any good. All the settings are held in your Gimp user profile which remains between installations. Did you ever enable OpenCL ? Maybe it is still being used.

Edit:

   

Since you are using PS files some of those templates are enormous and in memory can easily exceed 1 GB, especially after a few edits and saved undo's. This one 4000x3200 px and 79 layers.  One minute to release the memory ? Is that just the time taken to export back to psd format ? or after closing Gimp ? Just wondering, maybe someone will have an answer.

[BlazedSpawn]

Thanks! I didn't know about the dashboard. Handy tool.

   

The comparison confirms that there's a problem.

I don't recall ever enabling OpenCL, never had a reason. PS import was non-specific--I meant PostScript import, which I only installed "just in case." In case of what I'm not sure; I'll probably never need it. I don't export to psd; don't need to. I export to flat image files, mostly png, jpg, and bmp.

I haven't opened any of my old PhotoShop files in 2.10. Just did a search, though, and yeah, they're huge. But so are some of my .xcf files. (One is 53.4 Mb, 250 layers. That one probably needs some pruning.) I do expect slowdown when I have something like that open, but not the memory grab on a new open.

The minute is when I close gimp. I'm watching the clock and Resource Monitor for commit. I close gimp, its line goes gray, and it's a full minute later that it disappears. It releases committed memory quickly when I close a file.