Argument list too long error

[mirh]

Can't run the archiver executable: child process execution «/usr/bin/unzip» (argument list too long)

Example.

[ib]

Please describe more detailed what you are doing (especially your drag and drop).

[mirh]

Drag and drop that archive (the usual way) and you get the error above.

[gituser789]

Same thing here. Making archive by using the right-click menu leads to the same error.

Using the command line works fine with the same files:

tar cf archive.tar folder_with_many_files

I am using version 0.5.4.14. Not the latest, but this issue hasnt been closed since a while.

[Saijin-Naib]

I also experienced this behavior using 0.5.20 on Alpine Linux edge v3.18 x86_64 when attempting to archive my /home/ directory in the following three ways:

1. Drag/Drop /home/
2. Right-click /home/ in Thunar and Archive
3. Create archive, Add Files, choose /home/

Home has the following statistics:

The archiving attempts that didn't error out on argument list too long (I believe using 7zip backend) also would take all of my memory during the time it was enumerating the files to add to the archive, so 4GB RAM and 4GB SWAP, whereupon it would crash due to OOM.

[ib]

@Saijin-Naib

I am currently testing early patches that address this issue. It would be interesting to try these on your large home directory.

Are you capable of patching the master source and compiling it yourself? If so, I would send you (an as yet not sufficiently tested, i.e. not for real-world use) patch for testing (i.e. you should delete the created archive after checking).

(Would your "package-maintenance" email address be okay?)

[ib]

• Extraction Still working on.
• Archive creation Works now, if the compressor/archiver command line program supports it.

EDIT: (Removed incorrect comment about the Thunar archive interface.)

[Saijin-Naib]

Sorry I missed your tag in May.

Is the Thunar Archive Function limitation something with prior art on how to address?

Pipe everything into a CSV and pass that?

Open an Issue with them?

[ib]

@Saijin-Naib

I am getting old.

Thunar right-click also works, if you have configured Allow subdirs with clipboard and drag-and-drop in xarchiver (see 37122609e7d7df36fa4b36640cf7f116a053a73c).

[Saijin-Naib]

All good! Know the feeling.

Does 3712260 do anything to help limit max memory usage?

If this goes into a tagged release I should be able to build and test on my laptop to see if it OOM or not, and if it can complete the archival.

[ib]

Does https://github.com/ib/xarchiver/commit/37122609e7d7df36fa4b36640cf7f116a053a73c do anything to help limit max memory usage?

No, it just ensures that the argument list is as short as possible. Xarchiver has no control over the memory usage of the compressor/archiver command line program.

[ib]

• Extraction Works now.
• Deletion Works now.