Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!infopiz!lupine!bryant!kevink
From: kevink@bryant.NCD.COM (Kevin Kelleher)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.ultrix
Subject: Re: increase swap space
Message-ID: <5978@lupine.NCD.COM>
Date: 14 Jun 91 18:08:36 GMT
References: <133933@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <1991Jun13.165603.6240@prl.dec.com>
Sender: news@NCD.COM
Reply-To: kevink@bryant.NCD.COM (Kevin Kelleher)
Lines: 34

In article <1991Jun13.165603.6240@prl.dec.com>, boyd@prl.dec.com (Boyd
Roberts) writes:
|> In article <133933@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>,
mueller@daisy.cis.ohio-state.edu (klaus d mueller) writes:
|> > I'm having problems with my swap space being too small. So I thought about
|> > creating a big file and using SWAPON <file name> to add this file
to my swap 
|> > space. Will this create a problem when the file is not written in
contiguous 
|> > blocks ?
|> 
|> No, you can't do that.  The `file' argument is _not_ an ordinary file.
|> It's a block special file refering to (part of) an unused disk partition.
|> It is just a chunk of disk, there is no file-system structure on it.
|> 
|> You have to create (or find) a spare partition, configure it into the
|> kernel and then use `swapon' to make it available to the kernel for paging.
|> 
|> To quote from then swapon(8) manual:
|> 
|>     The second form gives individual _block devices_, as listed in
|>     the system swap configuration table.  The call makes only
|>     this space available to the system for swap allocation.

SWAPON <file name> where 'file name' is a large ordinary file
works for SunOS and possibly other flavors of Unix(tm).

It would sure be nice if DEC would consider this for a future
release.

Disclaimer: These are my opinions only, not my employeers.

Kevin Kelleher				kevink@ncd.com
Network Computing Devices (NCD)		(415) 691-2593