diff --git a/packaging/packages/synit-config/files/sbin/synit-init.sh b/packaging/packages/synit-config/files/sbin/synit-init.sh
index 75d855d..c2d2eb5 100755
--- a/packaging/packages/synit-config/files/sbin/synit-init.sh
+++ b/packaging/packages/synit-config/files/sbin/synit-init.sh
@@ -31,4 +31,11 @@ mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/syndicate/services
 # usb0. Instead we will be a DHCP client. (This was just easiest to set up.)
 killall unudhcpd || true
 
+# This tells Rust programs built with jemallocator to be very aggressive about keeping their
+# heaps small. Synit currently targets small machines. Without this, I have seen the system
+# syndicate-server take around 300MB of heap when doing not particularly much; with this, it
+# takes about 15MB in the same state. There is a performance penalty on being so aggressive
+# about heap size, but it's more important to stay small in this circumstance right now.
+export _RJEM_MALLOC_CONF="narenas:1,tcache:false,dirty_decay_ms:0,muzzy_decay_ms:0"
+
 exec /sbin/synit-pid1