Question about Swap Partition

[Eric]

Hi,
In some distros, if you don't allocate a Swap Partition, the system creates a Swap File to use instead.

Does MX Linux do that?
Or do I absolutely need to make a Swap Partition?

(And yes, I did do some web searching before I posted this question, but I could not find a definitive answer.)

[anticapitalista]

No and No

[Mauser]

No and it depends on how much RAM you have if you need to create a swap partition.

[Eric]

Thanks for the quick reply.

So, no, MX Linux will NOT make a swapfile if I have no Swap Partition.
And No I do not absolutely need a Swap Partition.

So, what are the drawbacks of not having a Swap Partition on a machine with 8 GB of ram?

I ask, as my boot drive is SSD, so constant swapping reduces lifespan of the drive.

[Mauser]

Thanks for the quick reply.

So, no, MX Linux will NOT make a swapfile if I have no Swap Partition.
And No I do not absolutely need a Swap Partition.

So, what are the drawbacks of not having a Swap Partition on a machine with 8 GB of ram?

I ask, as my boot drive is SSD, so constant swapping reduces lifespan of the drive.

You should be fine because I never seen MX Linux even reach 4GB of memory usage. The only drawback is if you use much more memory intensive programs than I do your computer will run into a roadblock from running out of memory. Not good. You can always add more RAM. I highly recommend no swap file with a SSD. The only question is what will happen to the swapness setting when there is no Swap file? Swapness should be set to 0.

[Eric]

Perhaps a 8 GB swap file with swapness set to 1?
I know Firefox can eat up a LOT of ram, and I tend to have lots of windows open.

[philotux]

I suppose if you hibernate your system then you would need a swap partition at least the same size of your ram.
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/system/hibernate

[Mauser]

Perhaps a 8 GB swap file with swapness set to 1?
I know Firefox can eat up a LOT of ram, and I tend to have lots of windows open.

If swapness is set to 1 when there is 1% memory left it will try to write to the swap partition but since you don't have a swap partition it would be fascinating to know what would happen. I use Firefox even with a dozen different window tabs open and never reach 4GB on MX Linux.

[Eric]

Thanks for all the replies.

I wont ever use Hibernate.
I may do some minor video editing, (Cat videos of my buddy over there in my Avatar.) so I am thinking a Swap Partition + swapness of 1 is the safest route.

[Adrian]

Some people had system freezes without Swap partition so it's a good idea to create one anyway.