spector@brillig.umd.edu (Lee Spector) (12/14/89)
I was just doing some work with lots of files open (mostly word processing stuff) in various applications under multifinder. When I tried to do a save of a draw document (the only one I had open) I got an Error -42, which the SystemErrors DA says means "too many files open". I presume I'm bumping up against an operating system limit (but see below). If this is correct, is there a way for me to increase the allowed number of open files (perhaps with ResEdit)? A strange thing about this, though, is that the number of open files allowed seems to depend on the application, at least to some extent. Some applications seem to have no limit (I haven't hit one yet with Allegro Common Lisp), and others seem to have a built in limit or a limit based on the memory that you give them (these applications give you a custom alert or just grey their "new" and "open" menu items). However, I've seen what seem to OS errors a few times: the Error -42, an alert saying something like "Can't open <application name> (too many files open)", and something like "Too many files open to complete that operation. Close a document and try again." I'm just wondering if there's a way around the problems that ARE imposed by an OS limit. I looked through my mac documentation and couldn't find a specific reference to this problem. I did see a suggestion to increase the size of Finder (for the sake of another problem). I tried this, though, and it had no effect. Any comments would be appreciated. -Lee (spector@cs.umd.edu)