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EFBIG
What this error indicates
EFBIG means that an operation attempted to make a file larger than an applicable limit. The limit may be the maximum size supported by the filesystem, a per-process RLIMIT_FSIZE ceiling, the range of the offset type used by the program, or a limit imposed by the particular API. It is different from an allocation shortage: the filesystem may still have free blocks, but this file is not allowed to grow further.
On POSIX systems, a write that would cross the file-size resource limit can also raise SIGXFSZ. A process that ignores the signal still has to treat the failed or short write as a real storage failure; retrying the same operation cannot make the size limit disappear.
How to diagnose and fix it
- Record the target offset, requested byte count, current file size, and the system call that failed.
- Compare the process file-size limit with the intended output size, then check the filesystem or object-store limit separately.
- On 32-bit builds, verify that the program uses a large-file ABI and that its offset types are wide enough.
- Split output only when the file format and consuming software support it; otherwise correct the limit or storage design.
References
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