Master Linux Memory Insights with smem: Install, Use, and Visualize

1. Install smem

On Fedora (19+) the package is in the default repositories; install with yum: $ sudo yum install smem On Ubuntu use apt-get: $ sudo apt-get install smem If the package is unavailable, download the source from https://www.selenic.com/smem/download/ and compile manually.

2. Common smem usage

Running smem without arguments lists each running process with memory consumption, showing RSS, USS, and PSS. PSS (Proportional Set Size) gives a fairer measurement for shared memory. $ smem Show memory used by each shared library (output can be long): $ smem -m Filter for a specific application (e.g., Firefox) and display percentages: $ smem -m -p | grep firefox Show memory usage per user: $ smem -u -p Display overall system memory statistics:

$ smem -w -p

3. Visualizing results

Python’s matplotlib library can turn the numeric tables into charts. Install it first:

# Fedora
$ sudo yum install python-matplotlib
# Ubuntu
$ sudo apt-get install python-matplotlib

3.1 Pie chart

Generate a pie chart by adding the --pie option and selecting the metric with -s (e.g., pss, uss, or rss). $ smem --pie name -s pss Replace pss with uss or rss to view those metrics.

3.2 Bar chart

Use the --bar option to produce a bar chart that simultaneously shows USS, PSS, and RSS values. The following command displays the data per process ID: $ smem --bar pid -c "pss uss rss" Replace pid with name to label bars by process name.