From owner-freebsd-questions Tue Jul 27 20:34:42 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mail.HiWAAY.net (fly.HiWAAY.net [208.147.154.56]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E9C8B1541A; Tue, 27 Jul 1999 20:34:31 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from dkelly@nospam.hiwaay.net) Received: from nospam.hiwaay.net (tnt8-216-180-14-53.dialup.HiWAAY.net [216.180.14.53]) by mail.HiWAAY.net (8.9.1a/8.9.0) with ESMTP id WAA13731; Tue, 27 Jul 1999 22:32:46 -0500 (CDT) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by nospam.hiwaay.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA65725; Tue, 27 Jul 1999 21:36:34 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from dkelly@nospam.hiwaay.net) Message-Id: <199907280236.VAA65725@nospam.hiwaay.net> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.0.2 2/24/98 To: "NT Workstation User" Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-emulation@FreeBSD.ORG From: David Kelly Subject: Re: Does freeBSD or any related freeBSDs support file larger than 2GB on 32bit x86 platforms In-reply-to: Message from "NT Workstation User" of "Tue, 27 Jul 1999 15:54:07 EDT." <000d01bed869$ddeec110$2bc809c0@HalbartAir.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 21:36:34 -0500 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG (trimmed the excessive To: list, two lists are the polite limit) "NT Workstation User" writes: > I am having a pecular problem trying to run SCO binaries under the iBCS > emulation in Linux. I figure the problem may be related to Linux lacking > the necesary functionality to support files larger than 2GB which this SCO > binary supports. I was thinking of trying freeBSD with its SCO emulation > support but I am uncertain whether freeBSD supports files larger than 2GB on > 32bit x86 platforms. Anybody know the answer to this question. Also if > only a peticular version supports it, let me know so I can get the correct > version. The program that I am trying to get to run under freeBSD or Linux > is the Microfocus cobol runtime. Everything else in that COBOL development > package works except the actual runtime, which just happens to support large > files (> 2GB) for the COBOL databases. This is why I fugure its dying under > Linux, so does freeBSD on 32bit x86 platforms support files > 2GB? As to the ability to emulate SCO well enough to run your application, I can't say. As to the sorry 2G filesize limit in Linux, FreeBSD has had no such limitation since at least 2.0.0. The largest file I've ever created in FreeBSD was about 12G and had no problems seeking within. Another commented that he has created 4G tar files in FreeBSD. A tar file is exactly the same as any other file on the filesystem. Only difference is what you write in it. You can create a 4G tar file in FreeBSD but not in Linux. Altho in Linux you could use tar to write 4G to a tape (if the tape is big enough). *Thats* different. In prior employment I routinely used FreeBSD to copy a image of a tape to a file. Then turned around and shot that image back out to a blank tape. Often writing to 4 tape drives at once. With all that said, last time I checked there were numerous different patches available for Linux to "solve" the 2G filesize limit. One problem was they all required wiping your existing filesystems and starting over as the mod results in a non-standard non-compatible ext2fs. Other problems to consider are, 1) did the patch "get everything"? and 2) if everybody running Linux isn't using it, then its not that well tested. -- David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly@nospam.hiwaay.net ===================================================================== The human mind ordinarily operates at only ten percent of its capacity -- the rest is overhead for the operating system. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message