[R] memory limit problem

Uwe Ligges ligges at statistik.uni-dortmund.de
Mon Apr 5 15:41:09 CEST 2004


Z P wrote:

> we have two server, one is unix (1280M) and linux (2319872k), how can I 
> set the max?
> 
> for the Linux one,
> 
> R --max-vsize=2319872k --max-nsize=2319872k
> 
> Then I use
> 
>> mem.limits()
> 
> nsize vsize
>   NA    NA
> 
> It seems the limits are not set at all
> 
> I want to define an array
> 
>> a<-array(0,rep(2,28))

Well, you need  4 * 2^28 = 1073741824 Byte to store the data for that 
array (if numeric). Internally, the data will probably be copied at 
least once from one object to another, so already consuming ~ 2Gb and 
you have reached the limit in this case. I am not surprised.

Uwe Ligges


> Error: cannot allocate vector of size 2097152 Kb
> 
> next I type
> 
>> a<-array(0,rep(2,27))
> 
> 
> It is ok. then
> 
>> a<-array(0,rep(2,28))
> 
> Error: vector memory exhausted (limit reached?)
> 
> Is there any way to help? In fact, I am now using some 
> array(0,rep(2,21)), the program run some time then fail, I can not trace 
> what happened since I run R in batchs under Linux. Does this happen 
> probably due to the memory exhaust? (for some array(0,rep(2,10)), my 
> codes work well).
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> From: Prof Brian Ripley <ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk>
>> To: Z P <nusbj at hotmail.com>
>> CC: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
>> Subject: Re: [R] memory limit problem
>> Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 07:12:02 +0100 (BST)
>>
>> On Linux, you can set memory limits in the shell you use to run R (via
>> command limit or ulimit, depending on the shell).
>>
>> Yes, there can be a need to set memory limits on Linux too.  However, the
>> problem was that (apparently, as we have not had a clear report), the
>> available memory was not all being used, and that is not seen on Linux 
>> (or
>> Solaris or ...).
>>
>> On Mon, 5 Apr 2004, Z P wrote:
>>
>> > Do you mean in Linux, there is no need to set memory limit? If 
>> needed, how
>> > to set it? Thanks.
>>
>> > >From: "Roger D. Peng" <rpeng at jhsph.edu>
>> > >
>> > >In general, this is not an R problem, it is a Windows problem.  I 
>> find that
>> > >these types of memory problems do not appear on Linux, for example.
>>
>> -- 
>> Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
>> Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
>> University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
>> 1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
>> Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595
>>
>> ______________________________________________
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> 
> 
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