I'm using Kstars/Ekos of macOS 14.1.2 Sonoma on an M2 Mac mini. Yesterday I downloaded the 3.6.9 beta.

As the capture and slew is now fixed in this version I was able, for the first time last night to try taking a sequence of images (I know I could have done that without accurate centring, but if I want to repeat the sequence on successive nights I do need it).

On the 4th image in the sequence I got a warning from the operating system that I must close some applications as I was running out of memory. I have 8 Gb of RAM on this machine, which was enough to run all night imaging with TheSKyX. But the warning panel showed that Kstars was using over 12Gb of memory! I quit everything I could but soon Kstars/Ekos became completely unresponsive with a blue-spinning ball. At this point it was using over 13 Gb of memory. Quitting was the only way out.

Restarting, it showed up at just over 3 Gb memory occupancy. Restarting my sequence it jumped to over 5Gb after the first image appeared. Closing FITS Viewer reduced that, but it jumped up again when the next image came and launched FITS Viewer again. There was a clear pattern:

new image -> memory use = 5.41 Gb -> close FITS Viewer -> memory use = 4.64 Gb
new image -> memory use = 5.75 Gb -> close FITS Viewer -> memory use = 4.98 Gb
new image -> memory use = 5.36 Gb -> close FITS Viewer -> memory use = 4.50 Gb
new image -> memory use = 5.47 Gb -> close FITS Viewer -> memory use = 4.70 Gb
When the sequence finished and everything disconnected, the memory usage went down to 3.16 Gb, with the FITS viewer open on the last frame.

Now it's true that my images are large (205Mb), but these memory deltas are enough for 5 or 6 images, not one.

And this is really unsustainable for unaccompanied imaging of more than 3 frames.

It can't be normal!

Richard,

The workaround is to uncheck the "Use FITS Viewer" box:



Of course, it would be good to know if there is a memory leak as well.
Could you please document, at least for a few images, how much memory leaking happens? Assuming you can reproduce that, please
- include your log,
- it would be helpful to see your settings (e.g. on Llinux they are in ~/.config/kstarsrc), and a screenshot of that same FITS settings page above.
- Finally, can you include a link to a captured image?

My suspicion is that it is related to your use of a large-res color DSLR. I don't own such a beast, but if not me, perhaps someone else can reproduce and debug it.
Can you play with a few of the related settings on that page (e.g. auto-debayer) and also the dslr checkboxe on this settings page below to see if they help?

Hy

Thanks for your response. Actually I had considered mentioning "memory leak" in the title, but it seemed a bit alarmist

I have managed to stop it growing continuously by a slightly different modification from the one you suggested. See attachment.


Now it seems stable at around 6 Gb, which is supportable.

My suspicion is that it is related to your use of a large-res color DSLR. I don't own such a beast, but if not me, perhaps someone else can reproduce and debug it.
Actually, I'm not using such a thing. I don't own one either. This is a regular monochrome CMOS astro camera, a Moravian C5A-100M. Other vendors (ZWO, QHY) have the same chip, Sony IMX461ALR. It just happens to have a large area (44x36mm) and small pixels (3.76um).

Could you please document, at least for a few images, how much memory leaking happens? Assuming you can reproduce that, please
- include your log,
- it would be helpful to see your settings (e.g. on Llinux they are in ~/.config/kstarsrc), and a screenshot of that same FITS settings page above.
- Finally, can you include a link to a captured image?
I'll do these things, and thanks for taking the time to investigate. But, some clarifications:
- include your log,
Which log? there are many options in logging, including verbose/normal and separate checkboxes per module.
I'm pretty sure I can find the settings, and a link to a captured image is here: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/osoakgd9nvf71dnjq...0fq3x1l9bsteb6s&dl=0

Thanks!
Richard

Sorry about my confusion re your camera.
Let me know how to reproduce and roughly how much memory increases per image.
Do you think it was the "Limited Resources Mode" that worked-around your issue?

Re log, I'd suggest something like this
(basically all ekos modules with verbose logging to a file):



Hy

Do you think it was the "Limited Resources Mode" that worked-around your issue?

I think most of the heavy lifting was done by the second item, single preview tab, which limited the number of images stored in FITS Viewer.

I doubt I'll be able to do another run tonight as the weather has turned cloudy.

I'll do it on the next opportunity I can.

Thanks,
Richard

FWIW you should be able to reproduce this by taking pictures of the ceiling or clouds.
No need to shoot real clear skies.
Hy