# RAM usage of building a system image

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ram-usage-of-building-a-system-image/140023>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** package-compiler\
**Created:** [October 14, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ram-usage-of-building-a-system-image/140023 "2026-10-14T20:26:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ram-usage-of-building-a-system-image/140023/1 "2026-10-14T20:26:51Z")

</div>

My script that is building a system image needs about 50 GB of RAM. This is very expensive. I am trying to use a swap file, but this is getting very slow.  
See for example: [Install KiteModels#main · OpenSourceAWE/AWEMeta.jl@2a4ca15 · GitHub](https://github.com/OpenSourceAWE/AWEMeta.jl/actions/runs/38600163181/job/115977054400)

Did not finish in 4h, now trying 6h.

Any ideas how to reduce the RAM usage? I switched from ControlPlots.jl to MakieControlPlots.jl. Before it was kind of OK.

You can find the script that builds the system image here:

> <https://github.com/OpenSourceAWE/KiteModels.jl/blob/main/test/create_sys_image.jl>

Do you think using `JULIA_HEAP_SIZE_HINT` could help?