[comp.unix.questions] Motorola, System V, vi question

dean@usceast.UUCP (Dean Karres) (11/03/88)

Hi,
  I am running release 3, version 4 of Motorola's System V. I have
recently had occasion to edit a reasonably large ascii text file
(540Kb +) and recieved the message "Tmp file too large". I am positive
that there is sufficient room in /tmp for vi to use (I have generated
the message with /tmp as a part of the / filesystem and with /tmp as
its own filesystem). Is there an upper limit to the size of a file
that vi can deal with? Should there be? If the answer to any of these
questions is "no" then what can I do to fix it?

Thanx,
Dean...k...
-- 
#define	name	Dean Karres
#define	E-mail	...gatech!ncrcae!usceast!dean
#define place	Math & Stat Comp Cntr/Math Dept/USC/Columbia/SC/29208
#include <disclaimers.h>

wu@spot.Colorado.EDU (WU SHI-KUEI) (11/04/88)

In article <2691@usceast.UUCP> dean@usceast.UUCP (Dean Karres) writes:
>Hi,
>  I am running release 3, version 4 of Motorola's System V. I have
>recently had occasion to edit a reasonably large ascii text file
>(540Kb +) and recieved the message "Tmp file too large". ...

The limit is 512K.  The thought of editing a file that large makes
me gag.  Surely it can and *should* be broken into more manageable
pieces.

boykin@multimax.Encore.COM (Joe Boykin) (11/05/88)

In article <2691@usceast.UUCP> dean@usceast.UUCP (Dean Karres) writes:
>Hi,
>  I am running release 3, version 4 of Motorola's System V. I have
>recently had occasion to edit a reasonably large ascii text file
>(540Kb +) and recieved the message "Tmp file too large". I am positive
>that there is sufficient room in /tmp for vi to use (I have generated
>the message with /tmp as a part of the / filesystem and with /tmp as
>its own filesystem). Is there an upper limit to the size of a file
>that vi can deal with? Should there be? If the answer to any of these
>questions is "no" then what can I do to fix it?

The problem is not that you have run out of space in /tmp, but that VI
has a compile-time limit on the maximum size the temporary file it uses
can be.  Th way VI works is to read the entire file you are using into
a temporary file.  Some additional information is also kept in the
file.  Whenever you change the file both the original text and the new
text is kept; unfortunately, the temporary file is never garbage
collected.

The default for non-VMUNIX is the ability to edit about a 256KB file;
sometimes this is upped to 512KB.  Under VMUNIX, there is a max, but
you won't reach it.

You said you were running Motorola's System V, but you didn't say on
what kind of hardware.  If you are running on a system with a small
address space, than maybe you're editing a file as big as you can given
the machine.  If you're using a system with a large address space, or
one with virtual memory, there is no reason why the distributor should
pawn off a copy of VI with a 256/512KB file size limit.  Unfortunately
there is no way you can "fix" this without the sources.  If you have
them, turn on VMUNIX.  If not, complain to Motorola (or whoever sold
you the system).

----

Joe Boykin
Encore Computer Corp
Chairman, IEEE Computer Societies
    Technical Committee on Operating Systems

UUCP: encore!boykin
ARPA: boykin@multimax.arpa   ("real soon now": boykin@encore.com)

pavlov@hscfvax.harvard.edu (G.Pavlov) (11/06/88)

In article <4099@encore.UUCP>, boykin@multimax.Encore.COM (Joe Boykin) writes:
> In article <2691@usceast.UUCP> dean@usceast.UUCP (Dean Karres) writes:
> >Hi,
> >  I am running release 3, version 4 of Motorola's System V. I have
> >recently had occasion to edit a reasonably large ascii text file
> >(540Kb +) and recieved the message "Tmp file too large".......
> 
> The problem is not that you have run out of space in /tmp, but that VI
> has a compile-time limit on the maximum size the temporary file it uses
> can be.....

  One machine I worked on (admittedly some time ago) "corrected" the problem
  by truncating the file to fit within the limit.  This "feature" disappeared
  when the next release of the Sys 3-based op sys was installed....

heiby@mcdchg.chi.il.us (Ron Heiby) (11/08/88)

Joe Boykin (boykin@multimax.UUCP) writes:
| In article <2691@usceast.UUCP> dean@usceast.UUCP (Dean Karres) writes:
| >Hi,
| >  I am running release 3, version 4 of Motorola's System V. I have
| >recently had occasion to edit a reasonably large ascii text file
| >(540Kb +) and recieved the message "Tmp file too large".
| 
| The problem is not that you have run out of space in /tmp, but that VI
| has a compile-time limit on the maximum size the temporary file it uses
| can be.
| 
| The default for non-VMUNIX is the ability to edit about a 256KB file;
| sometimes this is upped to 512KB.  Under VMUNIX, there is a max, but
| you won't reach it.

Under our System V/68 Release 3.0 Version 4, VMUNIX was not turned on.
Under our System V/68 Release 3.0 Version 5, VMUNIX *has* been turned on.
This should solve your problem.
-- 
Ron Heiby, heiby@mcdchg.chi.il.us	Moderator: comp.newprod
"There is a fine line between stupidity and cleverness." (This is Spinal Tap)