bug#8884: closed (Re: bug#8884: wide-int crash)

[Stefan Monnier]

>> It may simply be due to fragmentation: while there may still be more
>> than 2GB of unused memory, there may not be a single contiguous unused
>> chunk of 2GB.
> Not likely.

Why so?

> VM is on a dedicated disk volume of almost 12 GB.

Irrelevant.  The fragmentation is in the process's address space
(limited at most to 4GB).  Think of the following scenario:

1- start Emacs:
   30MB used, + (4096 - 30)MB free.
2- load 2GB file:
   30MB + 2048MB + 2018MB free
3- look at the file, causing some allocation:
   30MB + 2048MB + 1MB + 2017MB free
4- delete the large buffer
   30MB + 2048MB free + 1MB + 2017MB free
5- run a few minor commands, e.g. visit some small files.
   32MB + 2046MB free + 1MB + 2017MB free
6- try to load 2G file again
   Oops there's no hole large enough to put the 2048MB file.


-- Stefan