SpamAssassin killing my server with memory usage

[Andrew Jeffries <an...@nextgendevelopment.co.uk>]

Hi all,

I didn't know if this was the right list to post this to, but I guess 
the user list is for "how do I install spamassassin".  If not, feel free 
to shout at me and I'll go to user@.

I'm running spamd and Exim on a Gentoo linux box with an AMD Sempron 
2300+ and 512MB of ram.  The site handles about 20 domains (for friends 
and family), none of which are busy.

I've set up a cron job that runs every minute and restarts spamd if it's 
using over 100MB of ram (and emails me with the amount it's using).  The 
funny thing is I regularly (every day at least) get messages like:

Restarting SpamAssassin, memory usage at 462200 (09/15/05 00:10)
Restarting SpamAssassin, memory usage at 442488 (09/15/05 00:21)
Restarting SpamAssassin, memory usage at 444480 (09/15/05 00:34)

So, within 60 seconds (otherwise it would have been killed on the 
previous run) spamd's gone from <100MB to >400MB!  And it's done this 
three times in an hour!

After much searching i'm running spamd with the following settings:

-m 1 -H --max-conn-per-child=5 -u mail --ident-timeout=30

Can anyone help me track down why it's using so much memory?

I'm using:

server1 ~ # spamd -V
SpamAssassin Server version 3.0.4
   running on Perl 5.8.6
   with SSL support (IO::Socket::SSL 0.96)

Let me know what further information you need.

Cheers,


Andy

-- 
Andy Jeffries
NextGen Development Ltd
"Pushing the boundaries of internet interactivity"

Tel   : 0870 170 5902
Fax   : 0709 223 8820
Web   : http://www.nextgendevelopment.co.uk
Email : andy@nextgendevelopment.co.uk