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worker: resourceLimits overridden by --max-old-space-size #43991

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Closed as not planned
worker: resourceLimits overridden by --max-old-space-size#43991
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staleIssues and PRs marked stale due to inactivity and scheduled for automatic closure.workerIssues and PRs related to the worker_threads module and Worker API.

Description

@kvakil
kvakil
opened on Jul 25, 2022

Version

v19.0.0-pre (and earlier)

Platform

Linux sylph 5.4.0-56-generic # 62-Ubuntu SMP Mon Nov 23 19:20:19 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Subsystem

worker

What steps will reproduce the bug?

If --max-old-space-size is passed on the command line, it takes
precedence over resourceLimits.maxOldSpaceSizeMb passed to the worker
thread.

It seems to come from this code in V8:

node/deps/v8/src/heap/heap.cc

Line 5204 in 5fad0b9

if (FLAG_max_old_space_size > 0) {

You can repro by modifying test/parallel/test-worker-resource-limits.js.
Adding a value for--max-old-space-size here (even if it is the default)
causes the test to fail.

diff --git a/test/parallel/test-worker-resource-limits.js b/test/parallel/test-worker-resource-limits.js
index f79c31b2a1..1f394eaa4a 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-worker-resource-limits.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-worker-resource-limits.js
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// Flags: --max-old-space-size=1000
 'use strict';
 const common = require('../common');
 const assert = require('assert');

I feel this is unintuitive and should be changed upstream, but it should
definitely be documented in NodeJS too.

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

always

What is the expected behavior?

resourceLimits.maxOldSpaceSizeMb should override --max-old-space-size.

What do you see instead?

--max-old-space-size overrides resourceLimits.maxOldSpaceSizeMb.

Additional information

No response

Activity

  1. kvakil commented on Jul 26, 2022

    @kvakil
    kvakil
    on Jul 26, 2022
    ContributorAuthor

    Alternative: introduce a new flag --max-old-space-size-main-thread-only (just an example name).

    Use that flag to initialize the main thread's old space size. Deprecate --max-old-space-size.

    This has the added advantage of removing a dependency on a V8 internal flag.

  2. kvakil
    changed the title [-]worker: resourceLimits overriden by --max-old-space-size[/-] [+]worker: resourceLimits overridden by --max-old-space-size[/+] on Jul 26, 2022
  3. kvakil
    added a commit that references this issue on Jul 26, 2022

    doc,worker: document resourceLimits overrides

    44c9fcc
  4. daeyeon
    added
    workerIssues and PRs related to the worker_threads module and Worker API.
    on Jul 26, 2022

  5. bnoordhuis commented on Jul 27, 2022

    @bnoordhuis
    bnoordhuis
    on Jul 27, 2022
    Member

    ISTM --max-old-space-size=<n> should take precedence over resourceLimits.maxOldSpaceSizeMb when the former is smaller than the latter. It's okay for a worker to have a heap smaller than the global limit, but not bigger.

  6. kvakil commented on Jul 27, 2022

    @kvakil
    kvakil
    on Jul 27, 2022 via email
    ContributorAuthor

  7. bnoordhuis commented on Jul 27, 2022

    @bnoordhuis
    bnoordhuis
    on Jul 27, 2022
    Member

    The behavior I would like it to have / feel is the least surprising.

  8. nodejs-github-bot
    added a commit that references this issue on Aug 29, 2022

    doc,worker: document resourceLimits overrides

    2f24f6e
  9. RafaelGSS
    added a commit that references this issue on Sep 5, 2022

    doc,worker: document resourceLimits overrides

    b660b74
  10. juanarbol
    added 6 commits that reference this issue on Oct 3, 2022

    doc,worker: document resourceLimits overrides

    d1d3f24

    doc,worker: document resourceLimits overrides

    bf37efe

    doc,worker: document resourceLimits overrides

    6981a59

    doc,worker: document resourceLimits overrides

    89c837a
  11. guangwong
    added 2 commits that reference this issue on Jan 3, 2023

    doc,worker: document resourceLimits overrides

    33efb77

    doc,worker: document resourceLimits overrides

    c0b5d70

  12. github-actions commented on Jun 25, 2026

    @github-actions
    github-actionsbot
    on Jun 25, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
    Contributor

    This issue has been marked as stale due to 210 days of inactivity.
    It will be automatically closed in 30 days if no further activity occurs. If this is still relevant, please leave a comment or update it to keep it open.

  13. github-actions
    added
    staleIssues and PRs marked stale due to inactivity and scheduled for automatic closure.
    on Jun 25, 2026

  14. github-actions commented on Jul 26, 2026

    @github-actions
    github-actionsbot
    on Jul 26, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
    Contributor

    This issue has been automatically closed after 30 days of inactivity following its stale status (no activity for a total of 120 days).
    If this is still relevant, feel free to reopen it or leave a comment with additional details so we can continue the discussion.

  15. github-actions
    closed this as not plannedon Jul 26, 2026
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