"When a GNU/Linux machine runs out of physical memory it will start to use any configured swap-space. This is usually a sign of trouble as swap files and partitions are significantly slower to access than physical memory, however having some swap is generally better than having none at all. The size of swap allocated to files, or partitions, is usually chosen arbitrarily with many people adopting the "double the memory size" rule of thumb. Using a dynamic system can ease the maintainance of this size..."