Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!masscomp!peora!tarpit!bilver!bill
From: bill@bilver.uucp (Bill Vermillion)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.admin
Subject: Re: Sys 5.3 vi file-size limit?
Message-ID: <1991Jan18.052415.15612@bilver.uucp>
Date: 18 Jan 91 05:24:15 GMT
References: <447@minya.UUCP> <1991Jan17.130822.27543@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov>
Organization: W. J. Vermillion - Winter Park, FL
Lines: 27

In article <1991Jan17.130822.27543@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> fsfrick@bones.UUCP (David Fricker) writes:
>In article <447@minya.UUCP> jc@minya.UUCP (John Chambers) writes:
>>Does anyone know if it's possible to do something about vi's absurdly
>>small file-size limit?  
 
>My guess is that your problem is not vi but your filesystem.  vi creates
>temporary files such as the file for the recover option, etc.  In rough
>terms, the temporary files are 4-5 times the size of the original file.
 
>Double check the amount of free disk space that you have.  The various
>systems I use tend to put the temporary files under /tmp or /usr/tmp.

Some systems are distributed with a vi that will NOT let you edit large
files.  I am running Esix 5.2.D, and just tested with a large file.  It
gives a  tmp file too large error.  I wrote that out and found that the
file was 445k long.   I then re-edited the file with vi from a Xenix
system (they sit side by side here), and it swallowed the whole file, all
66k+ lines 3.2 megs.

Same hardware, just two different versions of vi.   I had this limit in the
past when working on some old Motorola 68000 and Zilog Z8000 based systems,
but this should NOT be acceptable in the iNTEL '386 based world.


-- 
Bill Vermillion - UUCP: uunet!tarpit!bilver!bill
                      : bill@bilver.UUCP