[cvsnt] CVSNT does not support *large* binary files (crashes onthem)

Arthur Barrett arthur.barrett at march-hare.com
Sun Jun 18 00:08:16 BST 2006


Serge,

> Concurrent Versions System (CVSNT) 2.5.01 (Travis) Build 1927 

Please consider upgrading to a more recent version.  See my notes below.

> create a large binary file.bin (~600 MB, CD ISO image is a 
> good example). Add it to a module, commit. 
> Run "cvs log file.bin". After a *long* pause observe:

> Physical RAM is 2 GB total, 1.4 GB available.

We recommend at least 2 x the size of the largest directory (sum of all
file sizes in that directory including dead files) in available (real)
memory if you are using -kkv and -kb, significantly more if you are
using -kB.

This is further affected by whether you are using any trigger scripts,
audit, or if you are running both the client and the server on the same
most (eg: windows terminal services).

> cygwin's rcs rlog (while slow) successfully processes file.bin,v file.

Be very careful running cygwin on a CVSNT server.  There are numerous
posts in the archive about incompatibilities.

Please try installing the latest CVSNT (see notes below) and to a
"custom install" to get the CVSNT rcs utilities and try the rlog
included in that.  

I'm a little surprised you hit this error on cvs log rather than on cvs
commit - but I do know that some memory handling was improved since
2.5.01.  Ideally try the latest testing release of 2.5.03 on cvsnt.org
(which is very close to being stable).

If the cvs log problem still remains then you will need to send much
more debugging info. See the FAQ on march-hare.com for more info, but
enabling server side trace, doing "cvs -ttt log", running "cvsdiag" and
sending the "attributes" of the file (ie: is it -kb or -kB or -kxb etc)
would be the minimum.

Regards,


Arthur Barrett



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