[R] memory limit problem

[Yi-Xiong Sean Zhou]

I tried using --max-mem-size=1400M at the command line on 1.8.1 and did not
work. However, 1.9.0beta works. The Os is XP professional on Dell inspiron
8600. 

Yi-Xiong

-----Original Message-----
From: Prof Brian Ripley [mailto:ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk] 
Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 11:20 PM
To: Roger D. Peng
Cc: Yi-Xiong Sean Zhou; r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
Subject: Re: [R] memory limit problem

That is true, but I don't see that Yi-Xiong Sean Zhou has actually yet 
followed the instructions for 1.8.1, which is to set --max-mem-size on the 
command line (and this is in the rw-FAQ as people have pointed out).

The issue is that on Windows the memory address space can get fragmented, 
and this is ameliorated by reserving memory in advance -- that is what 
using --max-mem-size (and not memory.limit) does for you.

When used as recommended, both 1.8.1 and 1.9.0beta can handle workspaces
of up to about 1.7Gb.  1.9.0 can go higher on suitable OSes: see its
rw-FAQ.

On Sun, 4 Apr 2004, Roger D. Peng wrote:

> 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.
> 
> -roger
> 
> Yi-Xiong Sean Zhou wrote:
> > R1.9.0beta solves the problem for now. The memory foot print of R1.9.0
is
> > way smaller than R1.8.1, with only 400M. It will be interesting to see
how
> > R1.9.0 handles the memory problem when it needs more than 700M.
> > 
> > Thanks for your helps. 
> > 
> > Yi-Xiong
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Roger D. Peng [mailto:rpeng at jhsph.edu] 
> > Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 2:52 PM
> > To: Yi-Xiong Sean Zhou
> > Cc: 'Uwe Ligges'; r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> > Subject: Re: [R] memory limit problem
> > 
> > You may want to try downloading the development version of R at 
> > http://cran.us.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/rdevel.html.  This 
> > version deals with Windows' deficiencies in memory management a 
> > little better.
> > 
> > -roger
> > 
> > Yi-Xiong Sean Zhou wrote:
> > 
> > 
> >>After memory.limit(1500), the error message still pop out:
> >>
> >>Error: cannot allocate vector of size 11529 Kb
> >>
> >>While 
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>>memory.size()
> >>
> >>[1] 307446696
> >>
> >>
> >>>memory.limit()
> >>
> >>[1] 1572864000
> >>
> >>And the system is only using 723MB physical memory, while 2G is the
total.
> > 
> > 
> >>Does anyone have a clue of what is going on? 
> >>
> >>
> >>Yi-Xiong
> >>
> >>
> >>-----Original Message-----
> >>From: Uwe Ligges [mailto:ligges at statistik.uni-dortmund.de] 
> >>Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 12:40 PM
> >>To: Yi-Xiong Sean Zhou
> >>Cc: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> >>Subject: Re: [R] memory limit problem
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>Yi-Xiong Sean Zhou wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>Could anyone advise me how to allocate 1.5Gbyte memory for R on a Dell
> >>>laptop running XP professional with 2G memory?
> >>
> >>
> >>See ?Memory or the the R for Windows FAQ, which tells you:
> >>
> >>"2.7 There seems to be a limit on the memory it uses!
> >>
> >>Indeed there is. It is set by the command-line flag --max-mem-size (see
> >>How do I install R for Windows?) and defaults to the smaller of the
> >>amount of physical
> >>RAM in the machine and 1Gb. [...]"
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>>I have tried
> >>>
> >>>"C:\Program Files\R\rw1081\bin\Rgui.exe" --max-vsize=1400M
> >>>
> >>>but I only get only 500MB for R actually.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>I also tried memory.limit(2^30) in R and got error of:
> >>
> >>
> >>Well, you don't want to allocate 2^30 *Mega*Bytes (see ?memory.limit),
> >>do you? 
> >>
> >>
> >>Either use the command line flag --max-mem-size=1500M or within R:
> >> memory.limit(1500)
> >>
> >> 
> >>
> >>
> >>>Error in memory.size(size) : cannot decrease memory limit
> >>
> >>
> >>Since your limit was roughly 10^6-times off the right one, you got an
> >>integer overflow internally, I think.
> >>
> >>Uwe Ligges
> >>
> >>
> >> 
> >>
> >>
> >>>Yi-Xiong
> >>>
> >>>       [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> >>>
> >>>______________________________________________
> >>>R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> >>>https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> >>>PLEASE do read the posting guide!
> >>
> >>http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> >>
> >>______________________________________________
> >>R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> >>https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> >>PLEASE do read the posting guide!
> > 
> > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> > 
> > 
> >
> 
> ______________________________________________
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> 
> 

-- 
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)
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