memory error saving application to an .exe with SAVE

Question

Hello Stephen,

If I want to save my application, about 800mb,  to an .exe with then command "SAVE" it's give an error "outside dictionary".

In a test, I rename the command "ALLOT" in :   : allot drop 1000 ;

SAVE now works, but of course it's not a working programm anymore.

Seems to me to be a memory issue, and do you have any idea to solve this?

with regards,

Hugo Overbeek

Answer 1

SAVE operates on the current dictionary, which has to be less than the stated maximum dictionary size.

1024 Mb set-size
save bigvfx
bye

run bigvfx
compile app
save app
 

Comments

some attempts:

first I made bigvfx

and reduced the problem to add only a create ... ... allot
( I also did not compile the app)

1)
VFX Forth for Windows IA32
  © MicroProcessor Engineering Ltd, 1998-2020

 Version: 5.11 [build 3788]
 Build date: 9 April 2020

 Free dictionary = 1072825454 bytes [1047681kb]

create c_buf1             20000000 allot  ok
save test1
20900032 bytes of code saved to file test1.exe ok


2) with
     create c_buf1 32000000 allot  
     works also

3)
VFX Forth for Windows IA32
  © MicroProcessor Engineering Ltd, 1998-2020

 Version: 5.11 [build 3788]
 Build date: 9 April 2020

 Free dictionary = 1072825454 bytes [1047681kb]

create c_buf1             40000000 allot  ok
save test4
gives error, menu shown: Windows Exception Interception
                                                  ....outside dictionary

4) with
     create c_buf1 33000000 allot  
     save test5
     gives error, menu shown: Windows Exception Interception
                                                  ....outside dictionary

5)
 Free dictionary = 1072825454 bytes [1047681kb]
      create c_buf1     500000000 allot  ok
      save test5
      another alert error,  "ProtAlloc failed"
                                               1ddb20c0
      menu: Windows Exception Interception   not shown

---

Try the 64 bit versions from

https://vfxforth.com/downloads/VfxCommunity/

The fault is likely to be in the 32 bit memory allocator - we just use one of the system ones.

---

I try the 64bit version for windows and did a small test

VFX Forth 64 for Windows x64
  © MicroProcessor Engineering Ltd, 1998-2023

 Version: 5.41 [build 4221]
 Build date: 14 June 2023

 Free dictionary = 6719494 bytes [6562kb]


10 mb set-size  ok
save VFXbig10
adding extension
saving VFXbig10.exe ok


close current and try to execute VFXbig10

windows show's a remark:
"this app can't run on your pc"
"to find a version for your PC, check with the software publisher"

Did this on two pc's both with the same remark.

Any idea?

---

The app needs code signing - you are getting a blue box, I think. Until we reissue a code signed version, you can allocate 800 MB of memory using ALLOCATE or PROTALLOC

800 mb protalloc value mem
$C3 mem c!     \ return opcode
mem execute  \ test

works for me on Windows 11. You will probably need a huge data file, but it'll work. If you need a fixed address, Google mmap() for Windows. See VirtualAlloc()

---

When can we expect to have a code-signed version?