Check How Much RAM Programs Are Using on Ubuntu/Debian Squeeze

In this guide, I bring to you a very helpful Python script that allows users to know how much memory each program uses under Ubuntu or Debian. Here are the instructions to install and run this script:

Via the Terminal, run these commands:

wget http://www.pixelbeat.org/scripts/ps_mem.py
mv ps_mem.py /usr/local/sbin/
chmod 755 /usr/local/sbin/ps_mem.py


To check RAM usage, run now this command:

ps_mem.py

This is the output I got:

root@debian:/home/steve# ps_mem.py
 Private  +   Shared  =  RAM used Program
  8.0 KiB +   7.5 KiB =  15.5 KiB acpi_fakekeyd
 20.0 KiB +  31.0 KiB =  51.0 KiB portmap
104.0 KiB +  22.0 KiB = 126.0 KiB init
 76.0 KiB +  51.0 KiB = 127.0 KiB rpc.statd
128.0 KiB +  23.0 KiB = 151.0 KiB gnome-pty-helper
144.0 KiB +  22.5 KiB = 166.5 KiB atd
256.0 KiB +  13.5 KiB = 269.5 KiB ssh-agent
244.0 KiB +  33.5 KiB = 277.5 KiB acpid
236.0 KiB +  55.5 KiB = 291.5 KiB cron
268.0 KiB +  31.0 KiB = 299.0 KiB dbus-launch
348.0 KiB +  29.0 KiB = 377.0 KiB VBoxService
332.0 KiB +  52.0 KiB = 384.0 KiB kerneloops
336.0 KiB + 102.5 KiB = 438.5 KiB gvfsd
324.0 KiB + 134.0 KiB = 458.0 KiB su
340.0 KiB + 124.0 KiB = 464.0 KiB gvfsd-burn
364.0 KiB + 118.0 KiB = 482.0 KiB gvfs-afc-volume-monitor
436.0 KiB +  48.5 KiB = 484.5 KiB exim4
440.0 KiB + 108.5 KiB = 548.5 KiB gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor
396.0 KiB + 156.5 KiB = 552.5 KiB gvfsd-trash
464.0 KiB + 111.0 KiB = 575.0 KiB getty (6)
516.0 KiB +  63.0 KiB = 579.0 KiB rsyslogd
556.0 KiB +  25.0 KiB = 581.0 KiB dhclient
560.0 KiB +  85.0 KiB = 645.0 KiB modem-manager [deleted]
508.0 KiB + 141.0 KiB = 649.0 KiB bluetoothd
504.0 KiB + 146.5 KiB = 650.5 KiB gdm3
444.0 KiB + 234.5 KiB = 678.5 KiB wpa_supplicant
504.0 KiB + 192.5 KiB = 696.5 KiB gvfs-gdu-volume-monitor
484.0 KiB + 250.0 KiB = 734.0 KiB avahi-daemon (2)
220.0 KiB + 587.5 KiB = 807.5 KiB udevd (3)
616.0 KiB + 201.5 KiB = 817.5 KiB gdm-session-worker
660.0 KiB + 197.5 KiB = 857.5 KiB upowerd
580.0 KiB + 319.0 KiB = 899.0 KiB udisks-daemon (2)
748.0 KiB + 238.0 KiB = 986.0 KiB bonobo-activation-server
  1.0 MiB +  87.5 KiB =   1.1 MiB gnome-keyring-daemon
996.0 KiB + 198.0 KiB =   1.2 MiB console-kit-daemon
928.0 KiB + 273.5 KiB =   1.2 MiB gdm-simple-slave
980.0 KiB + 261.5 KiB =   1.2 MiB cupsd
936.0 KiB + 311.0 KiB =   1.2 MiB kerneloops-applet
  1.2 MiB + 183.5 KiB =   1.4 MiB polkitd
  1.0 MiB + 441.5 KiB =   1.5 MiB gdu-notification-daemon
  1.1 MiB + 386.0 KiB =   1.5 MiB bluetooth-applet
  1.2 MiB + 338.0 KiB =   1.5 MiB dbus-daemon (2)
  1.2 MiB + 336.0 KiB =   1.6 MiB x-session-manag
  1.2 MiB + 398.5 KiB =   1.6 MiB gnome-power-manager
  1.3 MiB + 336.0 KiB =   1.6 MiB seahorse-agent
  1.3 MiB + 406.5 KiB =   1.7 MiB gnome-screensaver
  1.6 MiB + 350.0 KiB =   1.9 MiB VBoxClient (3)
  2.5 MiB +  99.5 KiB =   2.6 MiB gconfd-2
  2.2 MiB + 774.5 KiB =   3.0 MiB evolution-alarm-notify
  2.2 MiB +   1.1 MiB =   3.2 MiB metacity
  2.7 MiB + 726.0 KiB =   3.4 MiB bash (2)
  3.2 MiB + 893.0 KiB =   4.1 MiB gnome-settings-daemon
  3.2 MiB +   1.1 MiB =   4.3 MiB    gnome-terminal
  3.1 MiB +   1.5 MiB =   4.6 MiB  polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 (2)
  3.2 MiB +   1.5 MiB =   4.7 MiB  mixer_applet2
  4.7 MiB +   2.2 MiB =   7.0 MiB  gnome-panel
  6.6 MiB +   1.6 MiB =   8.3 MiB  nautilus
  7.6 MiB +   1.2 MiB =   8.8 MiB  python2.6
 16.6 MiB +   1.6 MiB =  18.1 MiB Xorg
———————————
                        107.8 MiB
=================================
 Private  +   Shared  =  RAM used Program