can't run commands from application

[Michelle L Botic]

Hi All,
I am customizing iPlanet's BillerXpert and within the packaged code is a call to Runtime.exec() to run a conversion program. When the code runs I get a 'java.io.IOException: Not enough space' message, but when I println the command, copy it from the log, and run it at the command line it works. Here is the code:

 Runtime run = Runtime.getRuntime();
//cmd is set
//println of cmd here gets printed
Process pr = run.exec(cmd); 
//println here does not get reached

I have replaced the command with others but get the same error, and iPlanet insists it is not a code problem, so there must be something wrong with my environment. The application is running on a Sun Ultra 10 box with Solaris 8. The servers are iPlanet web server 6 and iPlanet application server 6.5. Any ideas of what to try, or alternatives to Runtime.exec() are greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
[ August 13, 2003: Message edited by: Michelle L Botic ]

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

The JDC Bug Parade is your friend:
http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/bugParade/bugs/4337885.html
There are quite a few similar bugs, all now closed. If you look at them all, in general, the resolution seems to be that the cause is that the JDK version was inappropriate for the OS, or the OS wasn't at the right patch level for the JDK. Make sure your OS has all the recommended patches, and make sure you're using the newest JDK you can, and the problem should clear up.

[Michelle L Botic]

Thanks. My network admin is out today, so I'll have him look into patches tomorrow. Also, I looked at some of the bugs in the bug database and one of them (4391042) said the problem was solved by limiting the size of the JVM. How is this done?

[jason adam]

I believe you need to do a java -Xmx (and possibly java -Xms).
If you type java -X, you get non-standard options, of which the two above allow you to control heap size.

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

Probably meaning the heap size. I think that ws only referring to the case where the external program was a JVM too. But you can fiddle with the Java heap size using the -Xmx switch to the "java" command. -Xmx32m limits the heap to 32 megabytes.