Mac OS X Tiger in a Nutshell

Name

dynamic_pager

Synopsis

dynamic_pager [-E] [-F filename] [-H hire_point] [-L layoff_ point] [-P priority]
[-S file_size]

Manages virtual memory swap files. This tool is started from /etc/rc during the boot process.

Starting with Panther, when dynamic_pager is invoked without -H, -L, or -S options, it creates swap files that are sized dynamically according to paging needs and available disk space.

Options

-E

Encrypt the swap file.

-F

Specify the base absolute pathname for swap files. Swap filenames consist of this base and a whole number suffix, starting at 0. The default is /private/var/vm/swapfile.

-H

Create an additional swap file when free swap space drops below the hire_point in bytes. The default is 0, which disables the use of this swap space.

-L

Attempt to consolidate memory and remove a swap file when free swap space rises above the layoff_point in bytes. The layoff_point must be set higher than the sum of the swap file size and the hire_point, unless it is set to 0 (the default), which disables layoffs.

-P

Determine the priority of this swap space. The default is 0.

-S

Determine the size of swap files created, in bytes. The default is 20000000.