GC Causes¶

The various GC causes aren't well documented. The list provided here comes from the gcCause.cpp file in the jdk and we include some information on what these mean for the application.

System.gc__¶

Something called System.gc(). If you are seeing this once an hour it is likely related to the RMI GC interval. For more details see:

FullGCAlot¶

Most likely you'll never see this value. In debug builds of the jdk there is an option, -XX:+FullGCALot, that will trigger a full GC at a regular interval for testing purposes.

ScavengeAlot¶

Most likely you'll never see this value. In debug builds of the jdk there is an option, -XX:+ScavengeALot, that will trigger a minor GC at a regular interval for testing purposes.

Allocation_Profiler¶

Prior to java 8 you would see this if running with the -Xaprof setting. It would be triggered just before the jvm exits. The -Xaprof option was removed in java 8.

JvmtiEnv_ForceGarbageCollection¶

Something called the JVM tool interface function ForceGarbageCollection. Look at the -agentlib param to java to see what agents are configured.

GCLocker_Initiated_GC¶

The GC locker prevents GC from occurring when JNI code is in a critical region. If GC is needed while a thread is in a critical region, then it will allow them to complete, i.e. call the corresponding release function. Other threads will not be permitted to enter a critical region. Once all threads are out of critical regions a GC event will be triggered.

Heap_Inspection_Initiated_GC¶

GC was initiated by an inspection operation on the heap. For example you can trigger this with jmap:

$ jmap -histo:live <pid>

Heap_Dump_Initiated_GC¶

GC was initiated before dumping the heap. For example you can trigger this with jmap:

$ jmap -dump:live,format=b,file=heap.out <pid>

Another common example would be clicking the Heap Dump button on the Monitor tab in VisualVM.

WhiteBox_Initiated_Young_GC¶

Most likely you'll never see this value. Used for testing hotspot, it indicates something called sun.hotspot.WhiteBox.youngGC().

No_GC¶

Used for CMS to indicate concurrent phases.

Allocation_Failure¶

Usually this means that there is an allocation request that is bigger than the available space in young generation and will typically be associated with a minor GC. For G1 this will likely be a major GC and it is more common to see G1_Evacuation_Pause for routine minor collections.

On linux the jvm will trigger a GC if the kernel indicates there isn't much memory left via mem_notify.

Tenured_Generation_Full¶

Not used?

Permanent_Generation_Full¶

Triggered as a result of an allocation failure in PermGen. Pre java 8.

Metadata_GC_Threshold¶

Triggered as a result of an allocation failure in Metaspace. Metaspace replaced PermGen was added in java 8.

CMS_Generation_Full¶

Not used?

CMS_Initial_Mark¶

Initial mark phase of CMS, for more details see Phases of CMS. Unfortunately it doesn't appear to be reported via the mbeans and we just get No_GC.

CMS_Final_Remark¶

Remark phase of CMS, for more details see Phases of CMS. Unfortunately it doesn't appear to be reported via the mbeans and we just get No_GC.

CMS_Concurrent_Mark¶

Concurrent mark phase of CMS, for more details see Phases of CMS. Unfortunately it doesn't appear to be reported via the mbeans and we just get No_GC.

Old_Generation_Expanded_On_Last_Scavenge¶

Not used?

Old_Generation_Too_Full_To_Scavenge¶

Not used?

Ergonomics¶

This indicates you are using the adaptive size policy, -XX:+UseAdaptiveSizePolicy and is on by default for recent versions, with the parallel collector (-XX:+UseParallelGC). For more details see The Why of GC Ergonomics.

G1_Evacuation_Pause¶

An evacuation pause is the most common young gen cause for G1 and indicates that it is copying live objects from one set of regions, young and sometimes young + old, to another set of regions. For more details see Understanding G1 GC Logs.

G1_Humongous_Allocation¶

A humongous allocation is one where the size is greater than 50% of the G1 region size. Before a humongous allocation the jvm checks if it should do a routine evacuation pause without regard to the actual allocation size, but if triggered due to this check the cause will be listed as humongous allocation. This cause is also used for any collections used to free up enough space for the allocation.

Last_ditch_collection¶

For perm gen (java 7 or earlier) and metaspace (java 8+) a last ditch collection will be triggered if an allocation fails and the memory pool cannot be expanded.

ILLEGAL_VALUE_-last_gc_cause-_ILLEGAL_VALUE¶

Included for completeness, but you should never see this value.

unknown_GCCause¶

Included for completeness, but you should never see this value.