Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!snorkelwacker!spdcc!dyer
From: dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.i386
Subject: Re: vi: Tmp file too large - ULIMIT?
Message-ID: <1565@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM>
Date: 7 Feb 90 16:11:11 GMT
References: <8655@cbnewsm.ATT.COM> <15108@bfmny0.UU.NET> <3P91VN6ccs@ficc.uu.net> <1235@rsiatl.UUCP>
Reply-To: dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer)
Distribution: usa
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Lines: 19

In article <1235@rsiatl.UUCP> jgd@rsiatl.UUCP (John G. De Armond) writes:
>You obviously hit a ulimit :-)
>I've never hit a file too big to edit, assuming the line lengths are
>reasonable.  I could see no real reason for there to be a practical
>limit because even if they are using an int as a line counter, a 32
>bit int is pretty big.

"Tmp file too large" has nothing to do with ulimit.  It has to do with
versions of "vi" which have fixed array sizes, a frequent bug in programs
which originated on the PDP-11 and whoise sizes have only been adjusted
in later releases rather than being redesigned for a virtual memory
environment.  If you haven't seen this with 386/ix, they've either chosen
large enough manifest constants for you not to notice or they attacked
the problem earlier.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
dyer@arktouros.mit.edu, dyer@hstbme.mit.edu