[man8alexd]

> The Linux Kernel OOM killer kills random things.

By default, the Linux kernel kills the largest process in the system (unless OOM adjust was applied).

[silon42]

A better default would be to first kill the processes with largest over-commit, then other if needed.

[man8alexd]

Why do you think it is a better default? What does it solve?

[0x1d7]

Which, by default, is dumb for a presumably interactive system. Photoshop (or equiv) is going to be my "largest" process on a system. Because it's the one I'm interacting with.

Don't kill what I'm using.

[man8alexd]

You can always tell the system not to kill your Photoshop (or whatever else) by setting the OOM Score Adjust. This mechanism has existed for almost two decades and systemd has supported it for over a decade.

[0x1d7]

Yes, you can but the fact that I have to do it makes for a poor system.