Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!usc!apple!motcsd!mcdcup!mcdhup!mcdchg!att!watmath!watserv1!walter
From: walter@watserv1.waterloo.edu (w mccutchan -- computing services)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.admin
Subject: problem with large directory; longnames on Bull
Message-ID: <1990Oct16.002617.26926@watserv1.waterloo.edu>
Date: 16 Oct 90 00:26:17 GMT
Distribution: comp
Organization: University of Waterloo
Lines: 25

I have two queries for a colleague who is not yet on the Internet.
He is converting an application on a Bull (300?) machine and the
application (a PICK emulator) blows up with the message

	mkdir:  cannot create directory.  too many links.

when he performs a conversion operation on a large "file" (the "file"
is actually a directory and its children), involving a thick but
shallow nest of directories about four levels deep.  The directory
which it seems to be choking on is 34,302 bytes in size with a link
count of 995 (previously it bombed on the same file with a link count
of 455 but this changed when he increased ULIMIT to the maximum).  Is
there some magic about the size of this directory, the number of entries
in it or the number of links?  Where can I find information like this
for future reference?


Second:  Looking at the application, it seems that we *might* be able
to get around this problem by implementing long names on one file
system.  Alas, neither manuals nor technical support seem able to tell
us how to do this on a Bull box.  Can anyone out there lend a hand?

thanks,

..walter