Out of Memory (OOM) refers to a computing state where all available memory, including swap space, has been allocated. By default, this situation causes the system to panic and stop functioning as expected.
However, setting the /proc/sys/vm/panic_on_oom parameter to 0 instructs the kernel to call the oom_killer function when OOM occurs. Usually, oom_killer can kill rogue processes and the system survives.
The following parameter can be set on a per-process basis, giving you increased control over which processes are killed by the oom_killer function. It is located under /proc/pid/ in the proc file system, where pid is the process ID number.