Running processes get killed spontaneously

[runeks]

Hello all

I'm running Featherlinux live from a CD on an old Compaq server. I've copied the contents of the various hard drive partitions on this Compaq server to a Windows share mounted via Samba.

I would like to make sure that I have an exact copy of the local files on the Compaq partitions copied to my Windows share. So I want to compare the resulting the files with the original ones. I'm using "diff" for this purpose.

I execute the command:

diff -r maal/compaq /media

The program executes for a while and then outputs the following message:

Killed

I've also tried this command, to compare file names and corresponding file sizes:

cmp `ls -R -s --block-size=1 /maal/compaq` `ls -R -s --block-size=1 /media`

Which, after some time, outputs the same:

Killed

I can't figure out what is killing it or why it is being killed. The tar command produces the same results:

root@0[knoppix]# tar -cpkf 1048576 maal/compaq/back.tar.gz /media/sda2 /media/sda5 /media/sdb1
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
Killed

Does anyone know how to make sure the process I'm running doesn't get killed?

Thanks in advance!

[Quarlington]

How big are the files?

Sounds like you may be running out of memory.

[runeks]

There are some large files amongst. There are files over 100 MB, and the machine only has 64 MB of RAM.

Could that be the problem? And if so, how would I fix it?

Thanks for your reply!

[Quarlington]

Well, you could either:

1. Add some physical memory.
or
2. You could increase the size of your swap space.

To check swap space either run the 'top' program and check the Swap total or type cat /proc/swaps and check the total there.

If you want to add swap space:
Type 'man mkswap' for how to do that. Let me know how this works or if you need more help.

[runeks]

Thanks a lot! That did the trick. I used the GParted Live CD and created a 2 GB swap partition on one of the hard drives. I didn't even have to actively tell anything to use it, it was automatically detected and set to be used when the Feather Linux Live CD booted.

The diff command executed without being killed this time. Thanks for your help .

[Quarlington]

You are welcome. Glad I could help.