vi "TMP file too large" error

[John G. DeArmond]

towfiq at FTP.COM (Mark Towfiq) writes:

>In article <jsrobins.667129377 at galaxy.afit.af.mil> news at afit.af.mil writes:
>   I'm having problems editing large files over 300k with vi on our ATT 3B2.
>   We're running System V3.3 Unix.  When I try to edit a large file, vi reads
>   in only a portion of the file and gives the "TMP file too large" error.
>   I have plenty of disk space under /usr/tmp where the temp files are written 
>   and 48MB of RAM.

>I hate to say it, but perhaps it's time to switch to Emacs....

I'm sure that Mr. Robins appreciated that answer.  Switching to EMACS WOULD
mean that he'd only have about 40 mb of RAM.

To address the original question, you might first want to look at your ULIMIT.
It could be that you're exceeding the ULIMIT in your temp file. Failing
that, you may be running up against a compiled in limit reported to be in
some versions of vi.  If that is the case, then you can either try to 
get AT&T to fix the problem (harf! :-) or get a PD editor like steVIe or
similiar and install it.

If you have root access or can get it, try editing your file as root.
That should override the user ULIMIT. (please be gentle if I'm wrong :-)
My opinion is that ULIMIT is biting you.  I've never experienced 
problems editing large files on 386/ix, any flavor of NCR Unix or
AT&T Unix on a 3b2/400 once the ULIMIT problem is out of the way.

John

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