-XX:OnOutOfMemoryError="kill -9 %p" Problem

Question

I have an issue with trying to pass the -XX:OnOutOfMemoryError="kill -9 %p" command into my jvm args.

I am using Jetty7, and have this within the start.ini file. On start up it give me the error below. This is with jre /jre1.6.0_03l64

Starting Jetty: STARTED Jetty Tue Apr 26 09:54:26 EDT 2011
Unrecognized option: -9
Could not create the Java virtual machine.

The start.ini file is as below.

#===========================================================
# If the arguements in this file include JVM arguments
# (eg -Xmx512m) or JVM System properties (eg com.sun.???),
# then these will not take affect unless the --exec
# parameter is included or if the output from --dry-run
# is executed like:
#   eval $(java -jar start.jar --dry-run)
#
# Below are some recommended options for Sun's JRE
#-----------------------------------------------------------
  --exec
# -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote
  -Xmx4096m
  -Xmn512m
  -DLABEL=PROD_APP
  -verbose:gc
  -Xloggc:/export/opt/prod_app/logs/gc.log
  -XX:OnOutOfMemoryError="kill -9 %p"
# -XX:+PrintGCDateStamps
  -XX:+PrintGCTimeStamps
  -XX:+PrintGCDetails
  -XX:+PrintTenuringDistribution
# -XX:+PrintCommandLineFlags
# -XX:+DisableExplicitGC
# -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC
# -XX:ParallelCMSThreads=2
# -XX:+CMSClassUnloadingEnabled
# -XX:+UseCMSCompactAtFullCollection
# -XX:CMSInitiatingOccupancyFraction=80

Commenting the line out jetty will start fine with no issue. However we really need to add this arg due to memory leak with the system to prevent further damage if our process falls over.

Would anyone have any idea what I am doing wrong here or how I can fix this?

Answer 1

In Java version 8u92 the VM arguments

• -XX:+ExitOnOutOfMemoryError
• -XX:+CrashOnOutOfMemoryError

were added, see the release notes.

ExitOnOutOfMemoryError
When you enable this option, the JVM exits on the first occurrence of an out-of-memory error. It can be used if you prefer restarting an instance of the JVM rather than handling out of memory errors.

CrashOnOutOfMemoryError
If this option is enabled, when an out-of-memory error occurs, the JVM crashes and produces text and binary crash files.

Enhancement Request: JDK-8138745 (parameter naming is wrong though JDK-8154713, ExitOnOutOfMemoryError instead of ExitOnOutOfMemory)