read errors mapping : Cannot allocate memory (12)

Matthias Adler
Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:12:29 -0000

I use rsync to copy files from various Windows servers to a backup server
running linux (OpenSUSE 11.2, filesystem ext3). The files that are to be copied
reside in CIFS shares which are mounted on the backup server.

This is the command I run:

rsync -rltv --out-format=./%n%L
    --delete --exclude-from=excludes.txt
    --link-dest=/backup/local/20100110/server1/backup$
    '/backup/server1/backup$/'
    '/backup/local/20100111/server1/backup$'

When copying a rather large file (34 GB) I get the following error:

rsync: read errors mapping "<filename>": Cannot allocate memory
(12)
WARNING: <filename> failed verification -- update discarded (will try
again).
rsync: read errors mapping "<filename>": Cannot allocate memory
(12)
ERROR: <filename> failed verification -- update discarded.

It is the only file I have problems with.

I upgraded from rsync 2.6.4 to 3.0.6 and increased the memory on the machine
from 1 GB to 1.5 GB, but the problem remains.