UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi folks,

When I am extracting an archive using the:

tar -xvf /dev/rmt0 command i get the following error:

x ./GRBD8901/GRBR006T, 1763253368 bytes, 3443855 media blocks.
tar: 0511-197 ./GRBD8901/GRBR006T: Cannot write data extracted with the tar command:
A file cannot be larger than the value set by ulimit.
You have mail in /usr/spool/mail/root

Can anyone help me with this?

Hope to hear from you,

Thanks in Advance

Erik

Hi Erik,

On with platform you are working on? and from with plartform does the tape come from?

And what about your disk space?

jr

Hi Jan,

The operating system is Unix 4.3
The operating system where the tape came from is, i guess 4.2 or 4.3, don't know that for sure.
Disk space isn't the problem.
I've tried to look in the manual pages, but can't become very wise of that.

Erik

I think you mean an SUN box and not e.g. a IBM server?

Cannot write data extracted with the tar command: A file cannot be larger than the value set by ulimit

I just looking in the man page of ulimit, hereby the sun man page on ulimit:

http://docs.sun.com/db/doc/806-0624/...=ulimit&a=view

Iam sure this will help

Jan,

It is indeed a IBM server.

Erik

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commands Reference, Volume 5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ulimit Command

Purpose

Sets or reports user resource limits.

Syntax

ulimit [ -H ] [ -S ] [ -a ] [ -c ] [ -d ] [ -f ] [ -m ] [ -n ] [ -s ] [ -t ] [
Limit ]

Description

The ulimit command sets or reports user process resource limits, as defined in
the /etc/security/limits file. This file contains these default limits:
fsize = 2097151

core = 2097151

cpu = -1

data = 262144

rss = 65536

stack = 65536

nofiles = 2000

These values are used as default settings when a new user is added to the
system. The values are set with the mkuser command when the user is added to the
system, or changed with the chuser command.

Limits are categorized as either soft or hard. With the ulimit command, you can
change your soft limits, up to the maximum set by the hard limits. You must have
root user authority to change resource hard limits.

Many systems do not contain one or more of these limits. The limit for a
specified resource is set when the Limit parameter is specified. The value of
the Limit parameter can be a number in the unit specified with each resource, or
the value unlimited. To set the specific ulimit to unlimited, use the word
unlimited

Note: Setting the default limits in the /etc/security/limits file sets
system wide limits, not just limits taken on by a user when that user is
created.

The current resource limit is printed when you omit the Limit parameter. The
soft limit is printed unless you specify the -H flag. When you specify more than
one resource, the limit name and unit is printed before the value. If no option
is given, the -f flag is assumed.

Since the ulimit command affects the current shell environment, it is provided
as a shell regular built-in command. If this command is called in a separate
command execution environment, it does not affect the file size limit of the
caller's environment. This would be the case in the following examples:
nohup ulimit -f 10000

env ulimit 10000

Once a hard limit has been decreased by a process, it cannot be increased
without root privilege, even to revert to the original limit.

For more information about user and system resource limits, refer to the
getrlimit, setrlimit, or vlimit subroutine in AIX Version 4.3 Technical
Reference: Base Operating System and Extensions Volume 1.

Flags

-a Lists all of the current resource limits.

-c Specifies the size of core dumps, in number of 512-byte blocks.

-d Specifies the size of the data area, in number of K bytes.

-f Sets the file size limit in blocks when the Limit parameter is used, or
reports the file size limit if no parameter is specified. The -f flag is the
default.

-H Specifies that the hard limit for the given resource is set. If you have root
user authority, you can increase the hard limit. Anyone can decrease it.

-m Specifies the size of physical memory, in number of K bytes.

-n Specifies the limit on the number of file descriptors a process may have.

-s Specifies the stack size, in number of K bytes.

-S Specifies that the soft limit for the given resource is set. A soft limit can
be increased up to the value of the hard limit. If neither the -H nor -S flags
are specified, the limit applies to both.

-t Specifies the number of seconds to be used by each process.

Exit Status

The following exit values are returned:

0 Successful completion.

>0 A request for a higher limit was rejected or an error occurred.

Example

To set the file size limit to 51,200 bytes, enter:
ulimit -f 100

Files

/usr/bin/ksh Contains the ulimit built-in command.

Related Information

The ksh command.

The ulimit subroutine, getrlimit, setrlimit, or vlimit subroutine in AIX Version
4.3 Technical Reference: Base Operating System and Extensions Volume 1.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The error message of tar means, you try to write a file from the tar-archive to the disk, while this file is larger size then specified in the /etc/security/limits.

You can overwrite this limits by using the `ulimit` command.
I think you had to be administrator (= root access) to change those limits.

when you use ulimit (no options) it shows you the current max. file size. In blocks of 512 bytes