Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!auspex!guy
From: guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Printer accounting and cutoff from UNIX: is it possible?
Message-ID: <2985@auspex.auspex.com>
Date: 3 Mar 90 20:57:19 GMT
References: <1156@dutrun.UUCP> <37623@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara
Lines: 14

>>BTW: Why does UNIX have a cutoff for disk usage (quota) but not for 
>>printer usage?
>
>Because the system won't crash if the printer runs out of paper,
>but it will if it runs out of swap space!

First of all, not all UNIX systems "crash" if they run out of swap
space.  The program that's trying to, say, increase its data space may
get a "no can do" from "sbrk()" and have "malloc()" return NULL, but
that's a different matter. 

Second of all, the disk space usage he was referring to was for *files*,
not for *swap space*.  Most UNIX systems don't "crash" if they run out
of disk space for files, either....