Hi,

Is it possible to somehow limit the memory usage of the Erlang virtual machine? I’m on a shared server and I don’t have root access.

For example, when I want to run Java I cannot use the default settings:

$ java
Error occurred during initialization of VM
Could not allocate metaspace: 1073741824 bytes

I have to start the JVM with limited heap size:

$ java -XX:MaxHeapSize=512m -XX:CompressedClassSpaceSize=64m -version
java version "1.8.0_131"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_131-b11)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.131-b11, mixed mode)

$ java -XX:MaxHeapSize=512m -XX:CompressedClassSpaceSize=64m HelloWorld
Hello, World

I am using the new release feature that came in Elixir 1.9. When I try to run my Elixir application I get this error:

$ _build/prod/rel/webapp/bin/webapp start
2019-07-02 15:53:49.850859
    args: [load_failed,"Failed to load NIF library: '/var/www/_build/prod/rel/webapp/lib/asn1- 5.0.9/priv/lib/asn1rt_nif.so: failed to map segment from shared object: Cannot allocate memory'"]
format: "Unable to load asn1 nif library. Failed with error:~n\"~p, ~s\"~n"
label: {error_logger,error_msg}
2019-07-02 15:53:49.852625 crash_report        #{label=>{proc_lib,crash},report=>[[{initial_call,{supervisor,kernel,['Argument__1']}},{pid,<0.976.0>},{registered_name,[]},{error_info,{exit,{on_load_function_failed,asn1rt_nif},[{init,run_on_load_handlers,0,[]},{kernel,init,1,[{file,"kernel.erl"},{line,187}]},{supervisor,init,1,[{file,"supervisor.erl"},{line,295}]},{gen_server,init_it,2,[{file,"gen_server.erl"},{line,374}]},{gen_server,init_it,6,[{file,"gen_server.erl"},{line,342}]},{proc_lib,init_p_do_apply,3,[{file,"proc_lib.erl"},{line,249}]}]}},{ancestors,[kernel_sup,<0.950.0>]},{message_queue_len,0},{messages,[]},{links,[<0.952.0>]},{dictionary,[]},{trap_exit,true},{status,running},{heap_size,610},{stack_size,27},{reductions,265}],[]]}
2019-07-02 15:53:49.852655 supervisor_report   #{label=>{supervisor,start_error},report=>[{supervisor,{local,kernel_sup}},{errorContext,start_error},{reason,{on_load_function_failed,asn1rt_nif}},{offender,[{pid,undefined},{id,kernel_safe_sup},{mfargs,{supervisor,start_link,[{local,kernel_safe_sup},kernel,safe]}},{restart_type,permanent},{shutdown,infinity},{child_type,supervisor}]}]}
2019-07-02 15:53:50.858601 crash_report        #{label=>{proc_lib,crash},report=>[[{initial_call,{application_master,init,['Argument__1','Argument__2','Argument__3','Argument__4']}},{pid,<0.949.0>},{registered_name,[]},{error_info,{exit,{{shutdown,{failed_to_start_child,kernel_safe_sup,{on_load_function_failed,asn1rt_nif}}},{kernel,start,[normal,[]]}},[{application_master,init,4,[{file,"application_master.erl"},{line,138}]},{proc_lib,init_p_do_apply,3,[{file,"proc_lib.erl"},{line,249}]}]}},{ancestors,[<0.948.0>]},{message_queue_len,1},{messages,[{'EXIT',<0.950.0>,normal}]},{links,[<0.948.0>,<0.947.0>]},{dictionary,[]},{trap_exit,true},{status,running},{heap_size,610},{stack_size,27},{reductions,193}],[]]}
2019-07-02 15:53:50.861379 std_info            #{label=>{application_controller,exit},report=>[{application,kernel},{exited,{{shutdown,{failed_to_start_child,kernel_safe_sup,{on_load_function_failed,asn1rt_nif}}},{kernel,start,[normal,[]]}}},{type,permanent}]}
{"Kernel pid terminated",application_controller,"{application_start_failure,kernel,{{shutdown,{failed_to_start_child,kernel_safe_sup,{on_load_function_failed,asn1rt_nif}}},{kernel,start,[normal,[]]}}}"}
Kernel pid terminated (application_controller) ({application_start_failure,kernel,{{shutdown,{failed_to_start_child,kernel_safe_sup,{on_load_function_failed,asn1rt_nif}}},{kernel,start,[normal,[]]}}})

Crash dump is being written to: erl_crash.dump...done

Is it possible to limit the heap size in Elixir/Erlang?