[Mac OS X TeX] TeX capacity exceeded, sorry [pool size=64720]

[Ross Moore]

> I'd like to follow up on this. I've seen the poolsize error in documents 
> where I'm using
> 
> - seminar package
> - hyperref package
> - pdflatex rather than Tex+Ghostscript
> 
> Not knowing any better, I edited texmf.cnf (after getting permission 
> from Gerben :-)
> and modified the setting
> pool_size = 125000
> to 500000
> 
> Lo and behold! the error message is gone.
> 
> Yet I'm willing to admit there's something wrong in my code (it works 
> perfectly under OzTeX, though) - but what?

No; there need not be anything wrong with your code.

TeX has many different memory parameters.

The most common ones to be exceeded are the "main_memory", the
"parameter stack size", or "input stack size", due to an error in
your code causing a `looping' effect; e.g. infinite recursion,
gradually exhausing part of the allocated memory.  With this type
of error, recursion will continue, however much memory you allocate.


However, in your case it is the "pool size" that has run out. This is memory
allocated to storing the expansion strings for macros. This aspect of memory
is used mainly when packages are being loaded, as new macro definitions are
being read and space is needed to remember these definitions. 

It is unusual for this part of memory to be exhausted after the document
preamble has been processed successfully --- an exception being with Xy-pic,
since it can cause many new definitions to be made, as part of its internal
processing of diagram markup.

Thus it is not at all surprising that increasing the pool_size has completely
solved the problem.

 
> - Hemant Bhargava

> On Sunday, November 11, 2001, at 03:03 PM, John Burt wrote:
> 
> > Usually when you get this error it isn't because the memory capacity is
> > too small. In the days when TeX came in "small" and "big" sizes, this
> > sometimes happened, but I think just about everything is "bigTeX" now.
> > The capacity exceeded error is usually the result of something in your 
> > own
> > TeX code, not a result of the limitation of the capacity of TeX. 
> > Changing
> > the memory capacity won't fix the problem because the memory problem in
> > your code will eat up as much memory as you have.
> > John
> >  On
> > Fri, 9 Nov 2001, Alan Curtis wrote:
> >
> >> I got this error when running TeXShop with the MarSlide package
> >> (after seeing a recommendation here).

Ahah.
Marslide causes *lots* of other packages to be loaded...

> >> TeX capacity exceeded, sorry [pool size=64720]

  ... so yes, an increase in pool size is recommended.




Hope this helps,

	Ross Moore


> 

> >>
> >> I read the teTeX-FAQ and believe I need to edit the texmf.cnf file
> >> and run texconfig init.
> >>
> >> There is no line in texmf.cnf that has 'pool' in it so I added one at 
> >> the end
> >>


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