Out of memory when starting process from c# and mono

Question

I am working with an embedded linux board (Atmel AT91SAM) with Debian installed. There is a mono application running and its switching an output from GPIO on/off periodicly (like every 500ms) by calling cat by starting a new System Process with bash. After some time I get an "Out of memory" exception and output is not set for a time, after it "recovers itself" after some seconds.

• Is this a bad idea to set the pioC10 this way? If so, how else should I set the value file?
• Could this memory exception occur, because of not being able to access the GPIO at the moment?

• Is there a clean way to dispose the process, or is it done when method is closed automatically?

  private void OnTimer1Event(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e)
  {
          alternateBlinkTimer1.Stop();
          alternateBlinkTimer2.Start();
      try
      {
          var processStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo { FileName = "/bin/bash", Arguments = "-c \"echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/pioC10/value\"" };
          System.Diagnostics.Process process = new Process();
          process.StartInfo = processStartInfo;
          process.Start();
      }
      catch (Exception err)
      {
          log.Error(err.Message);
      }
  }
  

Answer 1

You can try skipping the Process Class and any memory management/garbage collection associated to it by directly use libc's system.

In your Class that you are defining the OnTimer1Event method, add a definition to system:

   [DllImport ("libc")]
   private static extern int system (string exec);

Then you can:

private void OnTimer1Event(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
        alternateBlinkTimer1.Stop();
        alternateBlinkTimer2.Start();
        system("echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/pioC10/value\");
}