Ramfill

A simple Linux RAM filler utility for testing memory pressure using tmpfs.

Purpose

This script allows you to simulate RAM pressure by filling a temporary filesystem (tmpfs) with zeroed or random data. Useful for:

• Stress testing systems under memory load
• Observing behavior under RAM exhaustion
• Simulating production environments with limited free memory

Features

• Uses tmpfs under /tmp/ramfill for safety (RAM-only, not disk)
• Reads config from ~/.config/ramfill.conf
• Fill using /dev/zero (default) or /dev/urandom
• CLI with start, stop, and restart
• Reports memory usage and what will be freed on stop

Installation

1. Copy ramfill.sh to a directory in your $PATH, e.g., ~/bin
2. Make it executable:

chmod +x ~/bin/ramfill.sh

3. Create a config file at ~/.config/ramfill.conf:

# ~/.config/ramfill.conf
RAM_FILL_SIZE="2G"
FILL_SOURCE="zero"   # or "urandom"

Usage

ramfill.sh start     # Mounts tmpfs and fills it
ramfill.sh stop      # Unmounts tmpfs and frees memory
ramfill.sh restart   # Stops and then starts again

Notes

• Requires sudo for mounting tmpfs
• Only uses RAM, no risk to disk
• Don't use urandom unless you specifically need entropy-based fill

License

MIT