How to prevent java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space at Scala compilation?

Question

I have noticed a strange behavior of my scala compiler. It occasionally throws an OutOfMemoryError when compiling a class. Here's the error message:

[info] Compiling 1 Scala source to /Users/gruetter/Workspaces/scala/helloscala/target/scala-2.9.0/test-classes...
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space
Error during sbt execution: java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space

It only happens once in a while and the error is usually not thrown on the subsequent compile run. I use Scala 2.9.0 and compile via SBT.

Does anybody have a clue as to what might be the cause for this error? Thanks in advance for your insights.

The answers here also work for java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Metaspace (the equivalent problem for Scala running on Java 8) if you replace MaxPermSize with MaxMetaspaceSize. — Brian McCutchon
– Brian McCutchon, Commented Jan 20, 2017 at 5:01

michaelliu · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-11 03:12:21Z

100

I use HomeBrew to install sbt on OS X. It supports a SBT_OPTS argument which can be put in ~/.sbtconfig file with export SBT_OPTS=-XX:MaxPermSize=256M.

answered Oct 11, 2012 at 3:12

michaelliu

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5 Comments

crockpotveggies Over a year ago

Homebrew seems to be a very manageable package solution when developing with SBT. :)

ski_squaw Over a year ago

the sbt brew install script sets memory max too small, get rid of the -Xmx512M in the java part - cat which sbt #!/bin/sh test -f ~/.sbtconfig && . ~/.sbtconfig exec java -Xmx512M ${SBT_OPTS} -jar /usr/local/Cellar/sbt/0.13.1/libexec/sbt-launch.jar "$@"

ski_squaw Over a year ago

there's a good SBT_OPTS setting in scala-sbt.org/release/docs/Getting-Started/Setup.html

Alex Punnen Over a year ago

worked for me on windows set SBT_OPTS=-XX:MaxPermSize=512M

Narfanator Over a year ago

Use of ~/.sbtconfig is deprecated, please migrate global settings to /usr/local/etc/sbtopts, Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM warning: ignoring option MaxPermSize=256M; support was removed in 8.0

Alexey Romanov · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-30 20:36:04Z

47

The cause for OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space is that it doesn't have enough permanent generation space :) If you are using Oracle JVM, you need to add the -XX:MaxPermSize=256M (or some other amount of space) argument to your sbt script. For other JVMs, look at their documentation.

answered Nov 30, 2011 at 20:36

Alexey Romanov

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6 Comments

BumbleGee Over a year ago

Thanks Alexey. I've already used the -Xmx512M option. I think that should have the same effect, right? I've added the -XX:MaxPermSize parameter nonetheless and see if the error persists.

Alexey Romanov Over a year ago

@BumbleGee No, memory added by -Xmx can't be used for PermGen.

BumbleGee Over a year ago

Thanks for clarifying that, Alex.

Ivan Over a year ago

It looks like a memory leak in SBT as the program compiles and runs sucessfully for about 3-5 times before throwing the exception which is fixed by SBT restart.

Daniel Darabos Over a year ago

For the current version of sbt you need -J-XX:MaxPermSize=256M instead of -XX:MaxPermSize=256M. Tvaroh's answer is more accurate and complete, plus it doesn't make fun of the question.

|

lev · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-14 11:12:54Z

38

I assumed you're using sbt 0.13.6 or higher. Create .sbtopts file in your sbt project's root with the following content:

-J-Xmx4G
-J-XX:MaxMetaspaceSize=1G
-J-XX:MaxPermSize=1G
-J-XX:+CMSClassUnloadingEnabled

MaxMetaspaceSize is for Java 8 whereas MaxPermSize is for Java 7. They are critical to prevent out of memory errors related either to permgen or metaspace exhaustion. Of course, consider adapting flag values or adding any other flags required.

More details and alternative approaches can be found in this blog post.

edited Jul 14, 2015 at 11:12

lev

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answered Mar 28, 2015 at 14:48

Tvaroh

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1 Comment

Brian McCutchon Over a year ago

Great. You can also put these options in your global configuration file; for me it's /usr/local/etc/sbtopts (for sbt installed with Homebrew on Mac).

Alex Stewart · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-11 02:55:14Z

6

I had this issue, played around with it for 10 minutes looking at sites trying to change the memory size.

Turns out i resolved it by,

user-profile$ sbt

Then,

sbt-project-name 0.1> clean

This cleared it up for me.

answered Aug 11, 2013 at 2:55

Alex Stewart

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Comments

Ivan · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-22 00:35:34Z

5

It looks like a memory leak in SBT for me as in my case the program compiles and runs successfully for about 3-5 times before hitting the exception which is fixed by SBT restart.

The most adequate solution indeed seems to be -XX:MaxPermSize= JVM parameter as Alexey Romanov suggests or to restart SBT periodically if it helps.

But there is another interesting way: try switching to Java 8. AFAIK it doesn't use PermGen any more and is probably immune to this exception this way.

I still hope SBT authors will address this issue in future versions.

answered Feb 22, 2013 at 0:35

Ivan

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6 Comments

Adrian Over a year ago

So Java 8 uses a different memory system?

sksamuel Over a year ago

In J8 the perm gen is just rolled into the memory heap spaces.

Siyuan Ren Over a year ago

With Java 8 SBT fails to compile, at least on my Mac. I have to downgrade to Java 7.

Ivan Over a year ago

Perhaps you are doing something wrong, @C.R. As far as I can remember I have tried it with Java 8 on Linux that time (when it was in deep beta) with no visible problems ans am using it with Java 8 on Windows right now. Perhaps you could show us the compiler error message you get?

Siyuan Ren Over a year ago

Thanks for the offer to help, but I decided not to go through the complicated process again. I'll stick to Java 7 for the time being.

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niebo · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-25 18:59:30Z

3

I am building with the Jenkins sbt plugin and had the same problems. They were resolved after copying the SBT_OPTS from the sbt file to the Jenkins job config's JVM flags.

answered Jul 25, 2014 at 18:59

niebo

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Comments

Jonik · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-14 14:06:50Z

3

Originally using a command like:

java -jar /path/to/sbt-launch.jar test

I got first OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space which I solved using -XX:MaxPermSize, and then OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space, to which -Xmx was the remedy.

So in my case, a command like this worked:

java -XX:MaxPermSize=256M -Xmx2048M -jar /path/to/sbt-launch.jar test

answered Oct 14, 2015 at 14:06

Jonik

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KARTHIKEYAN.A · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-30 07:00:43Z

0

change following code block in sbt.sh file and save its working fine.

get_mem_opts () {
  local mem=${1:-1536}
  local perm=$(( $mem / 4 ))
  (( $perm > 256 )) || perm=1024 //256 to 1024
  (( $perm < 1024 )) || perm=2048 // 1024 to 2048
  local codecache=$(( $perm / 2 ))

  echo "-Xms${mem}m -Xmx${mem}m -XX:MaxPermSize=${perm}m -XX:ReservedCodeCacheSize=${codecache}m"
}

or

using terminal to export sbt config

export SBT_OPTS="-XX:+CMSClassUnloadingEnabled -XX:PermSize=1024M -XX:MaxPermSize=2048M"

answered Aug 30, 2017 at 7:00

KARTHIKEYAN.A

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Vitaly Olegovitch · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-25 18:29:32Z

0

You can also add a .jvmopts file in the root folder of your project, and write inside the file the following:

-Xms1g
-Xmx4g

answered Mar 25, 2021 at 18:29

Vitaly Olegovitch

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