Is there a correlation between the size of the /var/log/messages file and the amount reported as "cached" when the top utility is run? I see that if I put a lot of log messages in the /var/log/messages file that the amount cached directly increases. If I then remove the /var/ log/messages file, the amount cached does not decrease.
Is this the expected behavior? In general, is there a way to keep the amount cached down? I notice my system crashing when the amount cached reaches a certain amount.
I am running Linux 2.6.10 on PowerPC.